-P 53  5,4 

PLAIN  TALK 


IN  THIS  REPORT 
ARE  DISCUSSED 


Economies 
Gas  Works 
Pigeons 
Good  Roads 
Sign  Boards 
Garbage 
City  Plan 
Graft 
Marketing 


Public  Singing 
Drinking  Water 
Street  Cleaning 
Bridges 
Contracts 
Band  Music 
Public  Utilities 
Street  Lighting 
Water  Waste 


And  Oth#  TOHJiuww  w w 

of  General  Interop  m 


“And  thou , Philadelphia,  the  virgin  settlement  of  this 
province,  named  before  thou  wert  born,  what  love, 
what  care,  what  service,  and  what  travail,  has  there 
been  to  bring  thee  forth  and  preserve  thee  from 
such  as  would  abuse  and  defile  thee l My  soul 

prays  to  God  for  thee,  that  thou  mayest  stand  in 
the  day  of  trial,  that  thy  children  may  be  the  blest 
of  the  Lord,  and  thy  people  saved  by  His  power!” 

—WILLIAM  PENN,  1684 


REPORT  OF 
DIRECTOR 
DEPARTMENT  OF 
PUBLIC  WORKS 
PHILADELPHIA 
1914 


DEAR  READER 


Please  forget  that  this  is  a public 
document.  Read  it  rather  as  a study 
in  home-making — as  the  record  of  one 
year  of  effort  to  make  of  Philadelphia 
the  best  place  in  all  the  world  in  which 
to  live.  This  report  of  the  Director  of 
Public  JV orks  to  the  Mayor  of  the 
city  is  really  a story  of  the  stewardship 
of  4000  city  employees  working  for  the 
other  1,600,000  citizens. 


ptflWPsrcv  OF  1U.W0®  IWRAW 
MORRIS  LLE W ELLY^  E. 


DIRECTOR 


P.  S. — At  least  look  at  the  pictures! 


THIS  REPORT  IS  PUBLISHED  AT  PUBLIC  EXPENSE  FOR  THE 
INFORMATION  OF  THE  TAXPAYERS  AND  OTHERS.  COPIES 
MAY  BE  HAD  WITHOUT  CHARGE  ON  APPLICATION  TO 
ROOM  216,  CITY  HALL,  PHILADELPHIA. 


* U naff  righted  by  the  sounds  around  her 
Undistracted  by  the  things  she  sees.' 


HIS  pigeon  made  her  nest  in  a window-box  outside 
our  offices.  Within  her  sight  and  only  a few  feet 
away  almost  one  hundred  thousand  people  pass 
every  day. 

It  is  with  some  such  spirit  that  those  of  us  en- 
gaged in  the  service  of  the  city  must  go  about  our 
work.  The  problem  is  very  large.  There  is  always  much  to 
distract.  There  are  few  standards  to  guide  us.  Of  genuine 
training  for  such  work  there  is  almost  none.  Sometimes  the 
pressure  is  strong  to  do  the  immediate  and  nearby — rather  than 
to  build  for  the  future.  At  best  all  progress  must  be  slow — in 
rfThis  field  at  times  it  seems  to  be  very,  very  slow — especially  to 
the  onlooker.  And  yet — 

The  4000  odd  employees  of  this  department  have  effected  econ- 
omies in  those  matters  entrusted  to  their  care  which  make  our 
operation  and  maintenance  expenses  over  one  million  dollars  a 
. year  less  in  1914  than  they  were  in  1911.  At  the  same  time, 
judged  by  the  test  of  willing  and  efficient  service,  monies  ex- 
>p.,  pended  and  volume  of  work  accomplished,  the  year  just  closed 
^ has  been  the  best  in  the  history  of  the  department. 

During  the  three  years  ending  December  31,  1914,  we  ex- 
pended $34,267,000.  Those  of  us  who  are  in  responsible  charge 
of  the  work  of  the  department  of  course  believe  that  this  money 


2 


has  been  honestly  expended — yes , not  excepting  any  one  dollar 
in  this  vast  sum.  For  the  first  time  in  many  years  the  general 
public  admits  that  our  business  methods  are  such  as  to  make 
this  statement  possible. 

The  total  savings  in  operation  and  maintenance  for  three  years 
up  to  date  have  been  well  over  $3,000,000,  and  for  the  year  1915 
we  estimate  $1,200,000  more.  This  is  divided  by  bureaus  as  fol- 
lows: Highways,  $1,180,000;  Water,  $1,202,800;  Lighting,  $470,- 
660;  and  City  Property,  $70,000.  In  this  no  mention  is  made  of 
a vast  saving  effected  through  obtaining  dedications  of  street- 
beds  as  against  the  old  method  of  the  city  having  to  pay  heavy 
damages  for  opening  streets.  While  we  did  not  take  the  time  to 
make  a definite  estimate  of  this  item,  any  one  familiar  with  land 
damage  cases  during  recent  administrations  knows  that  our  re- 
fusal to  open  streets  except  where  the  roadbed  is  dedicated  has 
effected  savings  running  in  the  hundreds  of  thousands. 

We  have  only  mentioned  in  this  statement  the  larger  savings 
effected — those  which  can  be  proven  from  the  books.  Some 


typical  items  are  as  follows: 

Highway  Bureau 

Reduction  in  garbage  contract $733  520 

Reduction  hauling  ashes  by  P.  R.  T 153  750 

League  Island  Park  contract 192  320 

Unnecessary  bridge  watchmen 36  250 

Cutting  out  “horse  hire” 37  710 

Hiring  teams  by  contract 20  000 

Northeast  Boulevard  contract 5 500 

Water  Bureau 

Saving  in  coal  bill 232  000 

Reduced  operation  expense 970  800 

Lighting  Bureau 

No  increase  gasoline  lamps 58  039 

No  increase  arc  lamps 132  620 

Reduction  in  electric  rates 280  000 

Bureau  of  City  Property 

Saving  in  cleaning  City  Hall 70  000 


Also,  through  better  systems  of  inspection,  the  department  has 
been  able  during  1914  to  reduce  payments  for  contractual 
services  in  those  cases  where  specifications  have  not  been  lived 
up  to.  Referring  particularly  to  the  Lighting  and  Highway 


3 


Bureaus,  the  department  reduced  payments  in  the  first-named 
bureau  by  $4250  for  lack  of  service  through  not  keeping  lights 
in  full  operation,  and  in  the  latter  bureau  by  $12,250  for  lack  of 
service  in  connection  with  street  cleaning  and  garbage  collection. 
In  the  Lighting  Bureau  it  might  be  well  to  note  that  while  no 
doubt  there  were  lights  not  kept  in  continuous  operation  during 
1910,  there  was  not  one  dollar  of  fines  imposed  for  this  lack  of 
service. 

A great  deal  of  attention  has  been  given  during  the  past  year 


OUR  DEPARTMENTAL  COUNSEL  TABLE 
We  have  met  twice  a month  for  consultation. 

This  meeting  was  attended  by  His  Honor  the  Mayor. 

to  improvements  in  our  contract  procedure.  Perhaps  the  furthest 
step  ahead  is  represented  in  the  work  of  bringing  the  standard 
specifications  of  the  several  bureaus  to  a single  standard.  During 
the  last  three  years  it  has  been  necessary  to  rewrite  most  of  the 
bureau  specifications.  In  order  to  harmonize  the  work  of  the 
several  bureaus,  William  H.  Connell,  Carleton  E.  Davis  and 
George  S.  Webster,  chiefs  of  the  three  bureaus  principally  in- 


4 


terested  in  contract  work,  have  put  in  a tremendous  amount  of 
work  in  comparing  paragraphs  covering  the  same  subjects  in 
their  respective  specifications  in  order  to  write  out  a set  of 
standards  that  would  include  the  best  in  each.  We  hope  to  get 
these  new  specifications  in  current  use  during  the  course  of  the 
coming  year.  To  have  such  a single  set  of  standard  clauses  used 
throughout  the  department  would  afford  the  best  possible  check 
against  future  irregularities. 

We  have  advertised  our  contract  work  more  extensively  in 
local  papers  and  especially  in  engineering  journals  published  out- 
side of  Philadelphia  as  shown  by  this  table: 


1906  15  ads  ( 6 months) 

1907  30  ads  ( 9 months) 

1908  39  ads  (12  months) 

1909  31  ads 

1910  26  ads 

1911  33  ads 

1912  40  ads 

1913  55  ads 

1914  62  ads 


The  cleaning  up  of  our  specifications  and  widespread  adver- 
tising of  contract  work  has  not  only  increased  the  number  of 
competitors,  but  has  made  it  possible  for  contractors  not  living 
in  Philadelphia  to  have  an  opportunity  to  bid  on  the  work.  In 
other  words,  Philadelphia  is  no  longer  what  she  was  prior  to 
December  4,  1911 — a “closed  city”.  Philadelphians  have  always 
participated  in  contract  work  in  other  cities.  Some  of  the  largest 
undertakings,  especially  in  Washington,  Baltimore  and  New 
York,  have  always  been  done  by  Philadelphia  engineers  and  con- 
tractors backed  by  Philadelphia  capital,  but  owing  to  conditions 
which  have  obtained  until  recently,  it  has  been  impossible  for 
outsiders  to  figure  on  Philadelphia  work  with  any  advantage. 

Under  previous  administrations  it  has  been  the  policy  to  give 
-all  of  this  work  either  directly  to  two  political  over-lords — 
Senators  McNichol  and  Vare — or  to  other  local  contractors  vir- 
tually designated  by  them.  These  awards  were  usually  made  at 
exorbitant  prices.  During  this  administration  the  political 
satraps,  big  and  little,  have  only  secured  contract  work  for  one 


5 


reason,  i.  e.,  because  they  were  the  “lowest  and  best”  bidders; 
and  when  successful  they  have  for  the  first  time  been  required 
to  fulfil  strictly  the  terms  of  the  contract  made.  In  four  notable 
instances  on  big  contracts  during  this  last  year  this  political  con- 
tracting combination  has  been  underbid: 


1.  On  Northeast  Boulevard 

Barber  received  award  at $369  294  00 

McNichol  bid 379  568  50 

2.  On  Southern  Boulevard 

Hassam  Paving  Co.  received  award  at 185  950  54 

Varebid 226  691  01 

3.  On  sedimentation  basin 

Snare  and  Triest  received  award  at 443  440  00 

McNichol  bid 481  280  00 

4.  On  South  Broad  St.  bridge  over  Belt  Line 

McMullen  received  award  at 242  256  00 

Varebid 254  153  00 


Of  course,  the  outside  concerns  employ  Philadelphians  almost 
exclusively,  so  that  the  city  gets  the  advantage  of  work  coupled 
with  low  prices,  which  comes  from  widened  competition.  Even 
when  contracts  have  been  awarded  to  local  concerns  the  com- 
petition has  resulted  in  much  reduced  prices.  For  instance,  in 
making  the  award  to  Edwin  H.  Vare  for  the  improvement  of 
League  Island  Park,  the  bid  for  grading  was  30  cents  per  cubic 
yard,  compared  with  62  cents  paid  to  him  on  previous  contracts 
for  work  much  less  difficult  to  do.  In  other  words,  the  cost  for 
this  item,  which  is  perhaps  the  biggest  one,  was  more  than  cut 
in  half.  In  the  same  way,  on  the  last  contract  for  the  Northeast 
Boulevard,  which  was  awarded  as  shown  above  to  the  Barber 
Asphalt  Paving  Company,  the  price  paid  for  grading  was  38 
cents  per  cubic  yard.  The  price  paid  to  the  McNichol  Paving 
and  Construction  Company  for  the  same  item  on  the  last  pre- 
vious contract  let  during  this  administration  was  only  52  cents. 
On  all  previous  work  on  the  Northeast  Boulevard  on  contracts 
let  under  previous  administrations  the  price  for  grading  was  80 
cents.  These  are  two  typical  examples  of  political  awards  yield- 
ing approximately  100  per  cent,  profits  on  work  running  into  the 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  dollars. 


6 


Perhaps  an  even  more  satisfactory  outcome  of  our  contract 
policy  has  been  that  on  the  smaller  contracts  for  street  improve- 
ments competition  has  been  brisk  and  awards  have  been  made 
to  a very  large  number  of  different  concerns.  Local  contractors 
who  had  neither  bid  on  nor  done  any  public  work  for  years  past 
have  come  back  to  it  on  account  of  being  assured  fair  and  square 
treatment. 

The  procedure  regarding  the  receipt  and  opening  of  bids  has 
been  changed  by  discarding  the  old  tin  bread-boxes  placed  in 
the  bureau,  and  later  opened  in  the  bureau  or  carried  to  some 
distant  room  in  the  building  for  opening.  We  now  use  neat 
steel  boxes  placed  where  the  person  depositing  the  bids  will  not 
be  subject  to  observation  by  employees  of  the  department,  and 
where  the  box  and  its  contents  are  never  out  of  sight  of  the 
public  from  the  time  the  first  bid  is  deposited  until  the  bids  are 
publicly  opened  and  read.  For  several  months  there  has  not 
been  a single  criticism  offered  on  the  part  of  any  bidder  relative 
to  the  fairness  of  treatment  nor  the  openness  of  the  competition. 

Work  under  the  South  Philadelphia  grade  crossing  agree- 
ment has  gone  forward,  perhaps,  even  more  rapidly  than  we  had 
anticipated.  Both  the  Baltimore  & Ohio  and  Pennsylvania  Rail- 
road Companies  have  entered  upon  this  work  with  enthusiasm 
and  an  evident  desire  to  finish  it  within  five  years  as  provided 
for  in  the  contract.  This  work  involves  the  ultimate  expenditure 
of  over  $25,000,000  and  is  spread  out  over  a vast  territory  which 
includes  practically  the  entire  city  below  Washington  Avenue 
and  between  the  two  rivers.  Most  of  the  preliminary  work  is 
necessarily  that  of  design,  tearing  down  buildings  and  the  con- 
struction of  sewers  and  other  sub-surface  structures,  and,  gen- 
erally speaking,  preparation  for  the  main  construction,  which, 
through  the  Washington  Avenue  Elevated,  the  Belt  Line,  the 
filling  in  of  the  lowlands  and  the  building  of  wharves  and  docks, 
will  visualize  this  great  undertaking. 

We  have  gone  ahead  actively  with  the  tearing  down  of  the 
buildings  along  the  line  of  the  Parkway,  especially  between 
Nineteenth  and  Twenty-second  Streets  and  between  Sixteenth 
and  Seventeenth  Streets,  so  as  to  pave  the  way  for  actual  con- 
struction during  the  present  year  on  all  four  blocks  of  the  com- 


7 


pleted  Parkway.  It  seems  curious  that  after  nearly  20  years 
of  making  purchases  along  the  line  of  this  thoroughfare,  and 
after  the  expenditure  of  many  millions  of  dollars,  up  to  this  time 
it  has  not  been  possible  to  open  a single  block  to  the  confirmed 
widths  and  grades. 

ADVERTISING 

There  is  no  question  affecting  the  administration  of  American 
municipalities  to-day  which  is  of  greater  moment  than  that  of 
publicity  or  advertising.  Speaking  recently  before  The  American 


SIGNBOARD  ON  SERVICE  TEST  ROAD 

Society  of  Mechanical  Engineers  on  “Some  Factors  in  Municipal 
Engineering,”  I said  on  this  subject: 

We  have  to  get  rid  of  the  now  old-fashioned  idea  that  advertising 
is  a crime.  I admit  that  as  a part  of  my  work  as  a public  official  I 
put  in  a great  deal  of  thought  on  what  may  be  quite  properly  called 
advertising.  By  that  I mean  that  I pay  less  attention  in  my  reports 
to  dignity  of  form  and  diction  than  to  making  them  sufficiently  inter- 
esting to  be  read.  It  is  only  as  we  engineers  who  are  public  officials 
learn  to  make  the  public,  sometimes  against  its  will,  understand  our 
work,  that  we  are  to  get  that  degree  of  popular  support  for  it  which 
will  make  it  possible  for  it  to  be  done  in  an  efficient  manner. 

In  my  opinion  it  is  going  to  become  more  and  more  a necessity,  not 
only  in  public  but  in  private  work,  for  engineers  to  be  able  to  popu- 


8 


larize  what  they  do.  It  is  true  to-day  that  a man  who  wants  to  do 
really  good  and  efficient  work  can  do  so  only  after  an  aroused  public 
opinion.  You  cannot  drive  people  in  a democracy.  In  offering  em- 
ployment to  an  engineer,  other  things  being  equal,  I want  what  might 
be  called  a good  advertiser.  You  can  secure  appropriations  for  work 
more  easily  when  it  is  well  advertised.  The  Panama  Canal  is  a good 
example  of  this  principle.  Again,  advertising  is  the  best  possible 
check  against  ill-advised  expenditures.  In  building  our  Byberry  and 
Bensalem  Service  Test  Roadway  we  erected  signboards  on  each  of 
the  twenty-six  sections  (see  page  7)  giving  to  the  layman  the  exact 
method  of  its  construction  in  non-technical  language.  If  the  public 
knows  how  a street  is  supposed  to  be  constructed  or  cleaned,  you  do 
not  require  as  many  paid  inspectors  on  the  job. 

The  development  of  some  varieties  of  municipal  engineering  is  ab- 
solutely dependent  upon  the  development  of  public  opinion  and 
must  proceed  with  it.  The  matter  of  street  cleaning  is  largely  a 
question  of  an  improved  public  taste  in  the  matter  of  street  paving. 
Unless  streets  are  well  paved  they  cannot  be  well  cleaned  except  at  a 
prohibitive  cost.  To  jump  from  one  degree  of  cleanliness  on  the 
highways  to  another,  without  a supporting  public  opinion,  may  be 
enough  to  wreck  an  administration  and  to  set  the  tide  of  civic  im- 
provement running  in  the  opposite  direction. 

The  newspaper  is  the  great  educator  in  these  matters  to-day.  But 
we  are  already  using  in  Philadelphia  moving  pictures,  parades  and  ex- 
hibitions. The  possibilities  of  these  and  other  means  of  publicity 
are  not  yet  fully  understood. 

In  the  matter  of  writing  reports  there  is  the  greatest  room  for 
improvement.  Too  frequently  in  the  past  they  have  been 
stereotyped  in  form,  weighted  down  with  page  after  page  of  dry 
and  almost  meaningless  figures  and  written  in  a style  forbidding 
to  all  except  a small  professional  class  of  municipal  admin- 
istrators. We  have  made  the  effort  to  retain  in  the  body  of  our 
reports  only  such  matters  as  are  of  more  or  less  general  interest 
and  to  shape  them  up  so  as  to  command  that  interest. 

Tabular  and  other  technical  material  interesting  only  to  a 
restricted  class  has  been  put  in  the  appendices.  Much  data  of 
this  kind  formerly  published  in  our  annual  reports  have  been 
placed  on  file  in  the  bureaus  where  they  can  be  consulted  by 
the  relatively  few  specialists  interested. 

Almost  without  exception  the  engineering  reports  from  other 
cities  contain  page  after  page  of  inconsequential  matter  or  at 


9 


least  data  and  information  which  it  is  worse  than  useless  to  put 
in  type.  A good  example  of  this  are  pages  89  to  104  of  the  last 
annual  report  of  the  Board  of  Water  Commissioners  of  Wil- 
mington (Delaware) , where  even  spare  parts  of  water  meters  on 
hand  in  the  storehouse  are  listed.  Such  illuminating  entries  as 
these  are  printed — probably  at  a cost  of  two  dollars  per  page: 


1 brush-wire  $.25 

2 drift  pins 10 

5 emery  sheets 20 

1 file  mill 15 


This  kind  of  thing  really  prevents  publicity — it  keeps  people 
from  reading  the  report.  Another  glaring  example  is  the  thirty- 
ninth  annual  report  of  the  Board  of  Public  Works  of  Grand 
Rapids,  Michigan.  Any  printer’s  mouth  would  water  at  the  sight 
of  the  compact  volume — say  1%  inches  thick — which  contains 
the  “Annual  Reports  1910,  1911,  1912,  1913,  Department  of  En- 
gineering, City  of  Rochester.”  I can’t  imagine  that  anybody  ever 
really  reads  such  ponderous  public  documents. 

Such  masses  of  figures  evidently  published  with  the  idea  of 
providing  publicity  really  act  in  the  contrary  manner.  At  best 
the  taxpayer’s  attention  can  only  be  attracted  by  the  big  essen- 
tials. Most  municipal  reports  are  trackless  mazes  of  inconse- 
quential bookkeeping  entries  of  the  old-fashioned — if  not  entirely 
obsolete — sort. 

Public  reports  should  be  freely  illustrated  with  photographs 
and  charts.  We  have  attempted  in  this  report  to  combine  photo- 
graphs in  such  a way  as  to  utilize  to  the  best  advantage  the  lim- 
ited amount  of  space  at  our  disposal.  There  is  apparently  in- 
definite room  for  improvement  in  the  matter  of  the  graphic 
presentation  of  cost  and  other  data  of  interest  to  the  public. 

Public  officials  should  remember  that  “news”  from  the  news- 
paperman’s standpoint  has  certain  definite — more  or  less  tech- 
nical— characteristics  which  it  is  well  to  study.  The  same  thing 
but  said  at  different  times  may  on  the  one  occasion  and  in  one 
connection  be  “news”  and  be  handled  as  such  by  the  papers,  while 
three  days  later  it  will  not  cause  the  reporter  to  raise  an  eye- 
brow. Many  matters  which  by  themselves  are  not  conspicuously 


10 


available  for  newspaper  use  can  be  made  so  by  a proper  setting. 

Sewers  and  news  about  sewers  do  not  fire  the  public  imagina- 
tion and  hence  the  newspapers  pay  little  attention  to  them.  We 
were  able  to  secure  a large  appropriation  ($200,000)  for  a sewer 
that  had  been  pressing  for  many  years,  largely  through  the 
human  interest  injected  into  a public  hearing  by  the  pathetic 
story  of  a poor  baker-woman  who  had  her  small  stock  of  flour 
ruined  at  every  heavy  rainfall  and  all  for  the  want  of  the  sewer. 
The  story  reached  the  first  page  of  the  newspapers  and  a public 
agitation  and  the  appropriation  followed. 

For  one  person  that  reads  an  article  ten  glance  through  it  and 
one  hundred  read  the  headlines.  In  an  effort  to  reach  the  larger 
number  by  putting  the  work  of  the  department  in  the  headlines 
we  have  entirely  changed  the  character  of  the  cover  and  title 
pages.  There  has  hardly  been  any  change  in  the  Water  Bureau 
reports  in  this  respect  for  over  100  years — both  cover  and  title 
pages  were  always  the  same.  The  range  is  shown  by  these  two 
samples: 


First 


Last 

Annual  Report 


Report 
of  the 


of  the 

Bureau  of  Water 
of  the 


Joint  Committee 
of  the 

Select  and  Common  Councils 


City  of  Philadelphia 


on  the 

Subject  of  Bringing 
Water  to  the  City 
Philadelphia 


For  the  Year  1913 


1798 


These  pages  were  undoubtedly  exceedingly  chaste  and  dignified 
and  involved  the  author  in  very  little  trouble,  but  they  were  of 
very  little  use  to  those  who  paid  the  bills. 


11 


This  year  the  cover  page  reads: 


REVIEW  OF  THE  YEAR’S  WORK 
in  1914 

PHILADELPHIA  BUREAU  OF  WATER 


\ 


FIVE  POINTS  TO  REMEMBER 

1.  Waste  of  water  is  the  principal  obstacle  to  further  improve- 

ment of  the  supply. 

2.  Cost  of  operation  and  maintenance  in  1914  was  $450,000 

less  than  in  1911. 

3.  Lowest  typhoid  rate  of  recent  years  proves  the  quality  of 

water  furnished  by  the  filters. 

4.  Meter  and  fixture  rates  should  be  equalized  and  meters 

placed  upon  wasteful  users. 

5.  Additions  to  the  water  system  should  be  planned  for  25 

years  ahead. 


12 


The  “title  page”  reads: 

BUREAU  OF  WATER  STATISTICS 


REVENUES 


Increasing 

Receipts 


1912  .$4  947  649 

1913  4 949  701 

1914  5 191  345 


COST  OF  OPERATION  AND  MAINTENANCE 


Decreasing 

Costs 


1912  $2  271  658 

1913  2 013  322 

1914  1 826  754 


Saving  of 
Coal 


COAL  BURNED 


1912  201  168  tons 

1913  183  686  tons 

1914  179  736  tons 


Increase  of 
Service 


NEW  PIPE  LAID 


1912  15  miles 

1913  19  miles 

1914  25  miles 


PER  CAPITA  DAILY  CONSUMPTION 

1912  198  gallons 

1913  178  gallons 

1914  173  gallons 

The  whole  object  of  such  a municipal  advertising  campaign 
must  be  to  inform  the  'public  and  to  inform  it  just  as  broadly 

and  intimately  as  is  at  all  possible.  Viewed  this  way  every 

point  at  which  public  funds  are  being  expended  becomes  an 
important  center  of  educational  influence  and  every  employee  of 


Cutting  down 
Waste 


13 


the  city  has  his  or  her  part  to  play  in  the  general  enlightenment 
of  the  public.  Especially  to  bring  out  this  individual  responsi- 
bility of  our  men  and  women  employees  a competition  as  to 
improvements  brought  about  in  our  work  was  held  late  in  the 
year.  The  following  letter  was  sent  to  each  individual  employee 
explaining  the  object  of  the  contest: 

This  department  of  ours  has  made  a good  record — I almost  said  a 
great  record — during  the  last  three  years  in  serving  the  people  of 
Philadelphia.  In  this  work  you  individually  and  the  bureau  with 
which  you  are  connected  have  had  your  share.  I know  that  you 
have  done  good  work.  You  know  it.  Now  we  want  all  the  citizens  of 
Philadelphia  to  know  it. 

As  one  means  of  getting  publicity  on  what  has  been  accomplished 
a prize  competition  in  which  every  employee  of  the  department  can 
take  a hand,  has  been  arranged.  The  prizes  go  to  the  employee  who 
suggests  the  best  thing  done  in  the  department  and  by  the  department 
during  these  three  years  when  we  have  all  been  working  together  for 
Philadelphia.  Don’t  watch  only  the  big  things!  To  caulk  a joint 
in  a water  main  both  quickly  and  so  that  it  will  hold  might  save  the 
city  a whole  lot  of  money.  Don’t  study  the  other  fellow’s  work  for 
ideas.  What  have  you  done  on  your  job  that  was  never  done  before 
or  what  are  you  doing  better  than  it  was  ever  done  before?  Get  your 
thinking  cap  on  and  help  us  show  the  city  that  the  Department  of 
Public  Works  is  on  the  map. 

Most  of  the  illustrations  used  in  this  report  resulted  from  this 
competition.  Wherever  possible,  credit  has  been  given  to  the 
employee  making  the  suggestion. 

A handsome  silver  cup  was  awarded  to  the  Bureau  of  Surveys 
for  presenting  the  largest  number  of  practical  suggestions  of 
things  accomplished  in  the  department  during  our  administra- 
tion. Suggestions  and  ideas  entered  were  divided  into  two 
classes:  Class  “A” — photographs,  drawings,  blue  prints  and  dia- 
grams with  the  privilege  of  adding  an  explanatory  statement; 
Class  “B” — suggestions  and  ideas  which  could  only  be  shown  by 
a descriptive  article  with  the  privilege  of  submitting  a sketch. 
The  judges  were  Charles  F.  Jenkins,  publisher  of  the  Farm 
Journal,  Richard  R.  H.  Durbin,  of  Strawbridge  & Clothier,  and 
E.  R.  Cox,  of  the  Atlantic  Refining  Company.  Three  prizes  were 
awarded  in  each  class,  and  the  awards  decided  on  the  following 
basis: 


14 


20  points  for  neatness  and  comprehensiveness  of  presentation 
20  points  for  showing  greatest  progress 
20  points  for  appeal  to  the  public 
20  points  for  originality  of  suggestion 

20  points  for  importance  of  suggestion  in  illustrating  progress 
of  department 

100 

There  were  over  200  separate  entries  made  in  the  two  classes. 


SURVEYS  WINS! 

George  S.  Webster,  Chief  of  the  Bureau  of  Surveys,  and  the  cup  awarded  to  that  bureau 
for  best  showing  made  in  the  Prize  Competition. 

Pictures  of  all  those  to  whom  prizes  were  awarded  are  shown  on 
the  opposite  page. 

Class  “A”  The  winner  of  the  first  prize — $25.00 — was  Her- 
man W.  Gailing,  Jr.,  of  the  Bureau  of  Surveys,  who  presented  a 
plan  of  the  proposed  South  Philadelphia  improvements  with  a 
brief  summary  of  the  advantages  to  be  derived. 

The  second  prize — $15.00 — was  awarded  to  Joseph  Herrmann, 


15 


$3trC\ass“B>* 
Third  Prize 

A Z. Holman,  Survey  Bu, 


Class'A”^^^®  WKJr 

Second Prize^B^  jppp’" 

Jos. Herrmann, Bu  City  Prop:y 


THeRbeKiivd  tKe 


Aarty  ojT  tke  illus- 
Iralions  used  in 
tXis  report  result 
ed  /rom  a contest 
inv/uck  prizes  were 
o^troA  for  tie  Lest 
.suggestion  madeLy 
emplgyees  as  to 
improvements  m\ 
five  meflods  of  five 


Cleveland  bean.  Hiehwar  Bureau 
Class  "B’'.  FirstPrize.  Class  “A”.  Third  Prize 


Department  f Put>l  i c 
Works  brought  about 
during tke  last  fkree 
years  under  tke  pres- 
ent administration. 
gyapks  on 
is  pagp  are  lliose 
9/  prize  vmnersTventy 
of  ker  employees  were 
gjven  Xonorable  mention 


‘ r=  Class  “B"  Second  Prize 

HM  Gubert  A.  lahy  John  A.  Young:  J.Oliott  Aa&uire 

bureau  of  Water 


16 


a laborer  in  the  Bureau  of  City  Property,  who  submitted  two 
photographs — the  first  showing  a boy  in  a public  square  obtaining 
a drink  from  a running  hydrant  and  the  second  showing  a work- 
ing man  refreshing  himself  at  one  of  the  new  bubbler  fountains. 


Hundreds  </* these 
old /askioned  hyd- 
rants are  ^und  i n 
cdy  squares.  Only  a 
boy  knows  Xow  lo 
drmk  /row  thevn. 
back  breakers 
and  water  wasters! 


These  modem  Bub- 
lers  have  been  intro- 
duced. T he/  are  artist- 
ic in  design,  saving 
in  water,  and  low 
enough  /or  even  the 
“Idlest  girl  ” to  get 
a drjnk . 


bubblers  in  our  Parks 


The  third  prize — $10.00— was  awarded  to  Cleveland  Dean,  of 
the  Bureau  of  Highways,  for  a cartoon  representing  the  manner 
in  which  engineers  from  all  parts  of  the  country  are  being  at- 
tracted to  the  Byberry  Service  Test  Road,  and  used  as  a head- 
piece  on  page  71,  this  report. 


Footnote — The  illustration  on  this  page  was  entered  in  the  Prize  Competition  by 
Joseph  Herrmann,  Bureau  of  City  Property,  and  for  it  he  received  second  prize  in  Class  A. 


17 


In  this  class  the  judges  awarded  honorable  mention  to: 


J.  Wilmer  Hadfield  Machinist 

Joseph  C.  Wagner  District  Surveyor 

Charles  P.  McDermott  Chief  Clerk 


B.  J.  Dudnick 
Wm.  C.  Greany 
Arthur  E.  Merrill 
Wm.  E.  A.  Doherty 
Samuel  T.  Wilson 


Sewer  Inspector 
Inspector 
Supt.  of  Meters 
Telephone  Operator 
First  Assistant 


Bureau  of  Water 
Bureau  of  Surveys 
Bureau  of  City  Property 
Bureau  of  Surveys 
Bureau  of  Highways 
Bureau  of  Water 
Bureau  of  Highways 
Bureau  of  Surveys 


Champions.  1914.  Bureau  of  Water. 

OUR  MASCOT 

Made  in  Philadelphia. 


DIRECTOR’S  CUP 

Awarded  annually  to  the  best  baseball  team. 

John  C.  Vogelsang  Engineer  Bureau  of  Water 

Francis  D.  West  Chemist  Bureau  of  Water 

Class  “B”.  The  winner  of  the  first  prize  in  Class  “B”  was 
Cleveland  Dean  of  the  Bureau  of  Highways,  who  submitted  a 
comparison  of  the  old  and  new  methods  of  testing  asphalt,  repro- 
duced on  page  79  this  report. 


The  second  prize  represented  the  combined  work  of  Gilbert  A. 
Fahy,  John  A.  Young  and  J.  E.  Maguire,  Bureau  of  Water, 
for  presentation  of  cost  data,  and  given  on  page  98  this  report. 

The  third  prize  was  won  by  A.  Z.  Hoffman  of  the  Bureau  of 
Surveys,  for  improved  index  for  land  registry  books. 

Honorable  mention  in  this  class  was  awarded  to: 


Herbert  L.  Steelman 
Frank  Fleming 
Edw.  R.  Schofield 
J.  Harry  Clemency 
Howard  W.  Arrison 
Herbert  M.  Packer 
Jonathan  Jones 
Eleanor  Clifton 
George  E.  Datesman 


Draftsman 
Laborer 
Draftsman 
Foreman  of  Shop 
Asst.  Engineer 
Asst.  Engineer 
Asst.  Engineer 
Stenographer  and  Clerk 
Principal  Asst.  Engineer 


Bureau  of  Highways 
Bureau  of  City  Property 
Bureau  of  Surveys 
Bureau  of  Water 
Bureau  of  Highways 
Bureau  of  Highways 
Bureau  of  Surveys 
Director’s  Office 
Bureau  of  Surveys 


The  range  of  the  suggestions  received  in  this  connection  is 
shown  by  the  following  poem  received  from  Miss  Eleanor  Clifton 
to  whom  an  Honorable  Mention  was  given: 

I fear  I shall  not  stir  the  town  nor  yet  arouse  the  nation 
By  booming  the  accomplishments  of  this  administration; 

While  others  strive  for  higher  things,  to  me  it  seems  a pity 
To  overlook  the  advent  of  the  Water  Bureau  kitty. 


It  brought  its  Mamma  boundless  joy,  it  gives  the  bureau  pleasure, 
And  being  black  it  means  “good  luck”  in  overflowing  measure, 

So  as  you  reap  the  cash  returns  and  I receive  the  mitten, 
Remember  that  I sacrificed  my  art  to  praise  the  kitten. 


Other  employees  taking  part  in  the  contest  were: 


J.  H.  Ambruster 
James  C.  Anderson 
Joseph  Aronfreed 
William  E.  Ahles 
Walter  Brinton 
Thomas  Buckley 
Joseph  Brett 
F.  H.  Bertholet 
Joseph  C.  Barnard 
John  Briggs,  Jr. 

H.  M.  Beaumont 
Charles  W.  Baldwin 
H.  J.  Beck 


Foreman 

Laborer 

Clerk  and  Messenger 
Draftsman 
District  Surveyor 
First  Assistant 
Foreman 
Inspector 

Principal  Assistant 
Principal  Assistant 
Assistant  Engineer 
Clerk 
Draftsman 


Bureau  of  Highways 
Bureau  of  Highways 
Bureau  of  City  Property 
Bureau  of  Surveys 
Bureau  of  Surveys 
Bureau  of  Surveys 
Bureau  of  Water 
Bureau  of  Highways 
Bureau  of  Surveys 
Bureau  of  Surveys 
Bureau  of  Surveys 
Bureau  of  City  Property 
Bureau  of  Surveys 


19 


Joel  L.  Brown 
John  F.  Bross 
James  T.  Baker 

C.  C.  Coleman 
William  Coleman 
John  F.  Culp 
John  T.  Campbell 
John  B.  Carr 
Joseph  W.  Carmichael 
John  T.  Devlin 
Arthur  J.  Donnelly 

George  W.  Dillmore 
James  F.  Decker 
John  H.  Doherty 
J.  Dowdell 
Edward  J.  Dauner 
Harry  Fisher 
Christopher  S.  Funk 
H.  M.  Fuller 
Arthur  E.  Geiger 
H.  F.  Galbraith 
Philip  R.  Grossman 
Edward  D.  Graffin 
Thomas  J.  Grumm 
Maurice  Golove 
W.  K.  Granlund 

A.  E.  Goldbeck 
Harry  Gehman 
William  Guyer 

B.  A.  Haldeman 
Joseph  H.  Hutchinson 
Thomas  Hays 
Samuel  R.  Hanifen 
John  D.  Henderson 
Henry  D.  Heilbrun 
Robert  Hornsby 
Felix  D.  Hurwitz 
William  B.  Haigh 
Major  Ivy 
Howard  Johns 
Robert  Jackson 
James  Jasper 
Joseph  Johnson 


Laborer 
Supt.  of  Square 
Supt.  Northeast  Boule- 
vard 

Foreman  of  Laborers 
Laborer 
Chief  Engineer 
Principal  Assistant 
Laborer 
Supt.  of  Square 
Chief  Engineer 
Supt.  High  Pressure 
Fire  Service 
Laborer 
Laborer 

Supt.  of  Square 

Supt.  of  Square 

First  Assistant 

Supt.  of  Square 

Draftsman 

District  Surveyor 

Draftsman 

Sewer  Inspector 

Draftsman 

Inspector 

Engineer 

Draftsman 

Principal  Assistant 

Assistant  Engineer 

Supt.  League  Island  Pk. 

Rodman 

Assistant  Engineer 
Draftsman 
Market  Clerk 
Second  Assistant 
Inspector 
Clerk 

Supt.  of  Square 

Inspector 

Supt.  of  Square 

Laborer 

Laborer 

Laborer 

Fireman 

District  Surveyor 


Bureau  of  Highways 
Bureau  of  City  Property 

Bureau  of  City  Property 
Bureau  of  City  Property 
Bureau  of  Highways 
Bureau  of  Water 
Bureau  of  Surveys 
Bureau  of  Highways 
Bureau  of  City  Property 
Bureau  of  Water 

Bureau  of  Water 
Bureau  of  Highways 
Bureau  of  Highways 
Bureau  of  City  Property 
Bureau  of  City  Property 
Bureau  of  Surveys 
Bureau  of  City  Property 
Bureau  of  Surveys 
Bureau  of  Surveys 
Bureau  of  Surveys 
Bureau  of  Surveys 
Bureau  of  Surveys 
Bureau  of  Highways 
Bureau  of  Surveys 
Bureau  of  Surveys 
Bureau  of  Surveys 
Bureau  of  Surveys 
Bureau  of  City  Property 
Bureau  of  Surveys 
Bureau  of  Surveys 
Bureau  of  Surveys 
Bureau  of  City  Property 
Bureau  of  Surveys 
Bureau  of  Surveys 
Bureau  of  Surveys 
Bureau  of  City  Property 
Bureau  of  Highways 
Bureau  of  City  Property 
Bureau  of  Highways 
Bureau  of  Highways 
Bureau  of  Highways 
Bureau  of  Water 
Bureau  of  Surveys 


20 


George  A.  Jelden 
William  C.  Jones 

G.  B.  Johnson 
Wilmer  Z.  Kline 
James  Knox 
Frederick  L.  Klein 
Leonard  Philips  Kane 
Abraham  D.  Kligman 
A.  J.  Kalajan 
Joseph  Levin 
William  H.  Lindsay 
Joseph  Lawless 
James  J.  Leonard 
Robert  Long 
Thomas  V.  Lily 
Patrick  Molloy 
James  J.  Moore 
Theodore  K.  Maull 
George  L.  Martin 
Horace  H.  Manship 
Burton  M.  Marks 
Siegfried  Mulverstedt 
T.  O.  O.  Modest 
John  McCash 
Samuel  L.  McCracken 
Guy  H.  McKeown 
Francis  J.  Naughton 
Horace  B.  Nicholson 
Percy  T.  Osborne 
James  O’Brien 

John  O’Kane 
P.  Peterman 
Charles  F.  Puff 
J.  P.  Poindexter 
Domenico  Pallente 

E.  R.  Patterson 
J.  W.  Philips 
Louis  Reuter 

H.  F.  Rufe 
Arthur  A.  Reimer 
J.  S.  Riehl 

F.  E.  Roth 
John  M.  Rodgers 
John  M.  Rose 


Registry  Clerk  Bureau  of  Surveys 

Principal  Assistant  Bureau  of  Surveys 
Architectural  Draftsman  Bureau  of  City  Property 


Draftsman 

Plumber 

Draftsman 

Draftsman 

Inspector 

Inspector 

Second  Assistant 

Principal  Assistant 

Caulker 

Laborer 

Laborer 

Supt.  of  Square 

Rammer 

Principal  Assistant 
Rodman 

Principal  Assistant 

Draftsman 

Second  Assistant 

Inspector 

Location  unknown 

Supt.  of  Square 

Draftsman 

Rodman 

Laborer 

Draftsman 

Draftsman 

Paver 

Rammer 

Laborer 

District  Surveyor 

Laborer 

Paver 

Inspector 

Asst.  Engineer 

Custodian  of  Records 

Inspector 

Transitman 

Supt.  of  Square 

Inspector 

Messenger 

Messenger  and  Asst. 

Inspector 


Bureau  of  Surveys 
Bureau  of  City  Property 
Bureau  of  Surveys 
Bureau  of  Surveys 
Bureau  of  Highways 
Bureau  of  Surveys 
Bureau  of  Surveys 
Bureau  of  Surveys 
Bureau  of  Water 
Bureau  of  Water 
Bureau  of  Highways 
Bureau  of  City  Property 
Bureau  of  Highways 
Bureau  of  Surveys 
Bureau  of  Surveys 
Bureau  of  Surveys 
Bureau  of  Surveys 
Bureau  of  Surveys 
Bureau  of  Highways 

Bureau  of  City  Property 
Bureau  of  Surveys 
Bureau  of  Surveys 
Bureau  of  Highways 
Bureau  of  Surveys 
Bureau  of  Surveys 
Bureau  of  Highways 
Bureau  of  Highways 
Bureau  of  Highways 
Bureau  of  Surveys 
Bureau  of  Highways 
Bureau  of  Highways 
Bureau  of  Highways 
Bureau  of  Surveys 
Bureau  of  Surveys 
Bureau  of  Surveys 
Bureau  of  Surveys 
Bureau  of  City  Property 
Bureau  of  Highways 
Bureau  of  Highways 

Bureau  of  Gas 


21 


Charles  R.  Ryder 

Rodman 

Bureau  of  Surveys 

Joseph  Stewart 

Laborer 

Bureau  of  Highways 

C.  H.  Saulters 

Laborer 

Bureau  of  Water 

John  N.  Smith 

Laborer 

Bureau  of  Highways 

B.  H.  Smithson 

Inspector 

Bureau  of  Surveys 

Harry  T.  Smith 

Draftsman 

Bureau  of  Surveys 

Edward  R.  Schofield 

Draftsman 

Bureau  of  Surveys 

Louis  Charles  Stern 

Draftsman 

Bureau  of  Surveys 

Julius  Solo 

Inspector 

Bureau  of  Highways 

Samuel  C.  Smith 

Draftsman 

Bureau  of  Surveys 

A.  L.  Smith 

Inspector 

Bureau  of  Surveys 

Max  Sauers 

Supt.  of  Square 

Bureau  of  City  Property 

George  T.  Shegog 

First  Assistant 

Bureau  of  Surveys 

Wm.  H.  Stakeley,  Jr. 

Inspector 

Bureau  of  Highways 

Lewis  A.  Scholl 

Supt.  of  Square 

Bureau  of  City  Property 

Josiah  H.  Steele 

Supt.  of  Square 

Bureau  of  City  Property 

Arthur  Semple 

Chief  Clerk 

Bureau  of  Lighting 

Maud  Sharpless 

Asst.  Clerk 

Director’s  Office 

Langham  Torrance 

Apprentice 

Bureau  of  Surveys 

Reuben  F.  Taney 

Laborer 

Bureau  of  Water 

George  P.  Tomlinson 

First  Assistant 

Bureau  of  Surveys 

Walter  A.  Tiers 

Draftsman 

Bureau  of  Surveys 

E.  F.  Thuring,  Jr. 

Draftsman 

Bureau  of  Surveys 

Robert  Thompson 

Chief  Engineer 

Bureau  of  Water 

Harry  W.  Truitt 

Supt.  of  Square 

Bureau  of  City  Property 

W.  Thompson 

Inspector 

Bureau  of  Highways 

T.  D.  Watt 

Supt.  of  Square 

Bureau  of  City  Property 

C.  S.  Weber 

Inspector 

Bureau  of  Highways 

Walter  L.  Whitman 

Inspector 

Bureau  of  Highways 

Harry  R.  Woodall 

First  Assistant 

Bureau  of  Surveys 

Samuel  T.  Wilson 

First  Assistant 

Bureau  of  Surveys 

J.  A.  Whitman 

Transitman 

Bureau  of  Surveys 

L.  F.  Wehmeyer 

Chief  Draftsman 

Bureau  of  Surveys 

D.  E.  Winsor 

Supt.  of  Square 

Bureau  of  City  Property 

John  H.  Webster,  Jr. 

District  Surveyor 

Bureau  of  Surveys 

Thomas  W.  Williams 

Laborer 

Bureau  of  Highways 

Samuel  B.  White 

Clerk 

Bureau  of  Highways 

W F.  Wingate 

Principal  Assistant 

Bureau  of  Surveys 

Edward  Zaun 

First  Assistant 

Bureau  of  Surveys 

The  usefulness  of  signs  and  signboards  has  only  begun  to  be 

appreciated  in  the  municipal  service. 

I look  forward  to  the 

time  when  an  adequate  sign  fully  descriptive  of  the  work  will 
be  a part  of  every  public  contract.  In  the  same  way  every  public 
building  or  structure  of  any  kind  should  be  adequately  marked 


22 


to  show  what  it  is  and  what  function  it  is  supposed  to  fill  in  the 
whole  scheme  of  the  city.  The  wording  of  such  signs  must  be 
suggestive  and  inviting:  A city  flag  displayed  from  every  im- 
portant piece  of  public  property  is  useful  in  calling  the  citizens’ 
attention  to  property  devoted  to  the  public  use. 

Prohibitions  of  any  kind  are  worse  than  useless.  As  long  as 
the  sign  “Do  not  spit”  hung  in  the  corridors  of  the  City  Hall  we 


SIGNBOARD  IN  THE  PARKWAY 

On  this  board  and  under  glass  are  shown  blue-prints,  photographs  and  other  data  fully 
describing  construction  work  going  on  in  the  immediate  vicinity. 

required  cuspidors  at  every  turn.  Since  the  sign,  “Please  help 
us  to  keep  this  corridor  clean.  Thank  you”,  was  put  up  the 
problem  has  been  simplified.  Gradually  such  signs  as  “Keep 
off”  and  “No  crossing”  are  giving  way  to  the  single  word  “Please” 
with  good  effect. 

Then,  wherever  a big  public  improvement  is  either  projected 
or  under  construction,  it  pays  to  have  an  adequate  descriptive 
sign  placed  on  the  site. 

Soon  after  coming  into  office  we  erected  in  the  City  Hall 
courtyard  a series  of  booths  for  a “Water  Saving  Show.”  This 


23 


KNOW  YOUR  CITY  BETTER  EXHIBIT 
Two  views — an  exterior  and  an  interior. 


attracted  within  a few  weeks  an  attendance  of  over  400,000  and 
proved  such  a tremendous  success  that  other  similar  exhibitions 
have  been  held  almost  continuously  since  then  under  the  aus- 
pices of  our  own  and  other  departments.  One  of  the  most 
successful  was  the  “Know  Your  City  Better  Show”  held  last  fall, 
when  we  had  an  average  daily  attendance  of  over  5000.  A 
more  or  less  permanent  building  was  erected  last  summer  for 
the  use  of  the  Baby  Saving  Show.  This  building  has  been  used 
this  spring  for  an  exhibition  of  weights  and  measures  and  for 
a month  prior  to  the  opening  of  the  Baby  Saving  Show  will 
be  used  as  headquarters  for  Clean-Up  Week.  There  should  be 


24 


several  such  exhibitions  going  on  all  the  time  in  different  sections 
of  the  city. 

In  a number  of  instances  we  have  used  moving  picture  shows. 
In  our  mosquito  extermination  campaign  we  showed  night  after 
night  slides  giving  the  life  history  of  the  mosquito  and  others 
illustrating  our  methods  of  oiling  ponds,  draining  lowlands, 
cleaning  sewer  inlets,  etc.  If  we  are  to  have  important  public 
meetings  or  for  any  reason  wTant  to  call  public  attention  to  any 
municipal  undertaking  we  have  colored  slides  prepared  for  the 
“movies”  to  use  between  reels. 

We  have  offered  to  all  kinds  of  civic  organizations  to  send 


APRIL  20th  TO 2Sth  CLEANING  UP  DAYS 


WAGONS  WILL  CARRY  AWAY  ALL  RUBBISH 
ON  REGULAR  ASH  COLLECTION  DAYS  - ' 
£/?££  0£  C£/A£?G£ 

A General  Clean-up  5 DAYS  Everybody  Help 


THE  “MOVIES”  USED  FOR  PUBLICITY 
A typical  slide  used  in  nearly  two  hundred  moving  picture 
houses  to  advertise  Clean-Up  Week. 


speakers  to  talk  on  any  subject  of  municipal  interest.  A city 
of  the  size  of  Philadelphia  should  have  a thoroughly  organized 
lecture  bureau  with  ample  slide  and  reel  equipment.  Our  street 
cleaning  parade  was  the  biggest  kind  of  success.  It  took  two 
hours  in  passing  and  thrilled  the  town.  We  arranged  to  have 
moving  pictures  of  it  taken  and  these  were  shown  in  many  of 
the  “movies”  during  the  following  week.  This  had  the  double 
effect  of  educating  the  public  as  to  the  size  of  its  street  cleaning 


25 


force  and  gave  the  men  engaged  on  this  work  a new  sense  of  the 
importance  of  the  work  and  of  their  own  part  in  it. 

Following  up  our  previous  practice  a number  of  interesting 
and  valuable  pamphlets  have  been  prepared  for  the  information 
of  the  public.  Among  others  may  be  mentioned: 


Procedure  for  Locating 
Street  Improvements 

Independence  Hall 
Catalogue 

Snapping  Cords 

Standard  Specifications 
for  Book  Printing 

The  Collection,  Treat- 
ment and  Disposal  of 
Sewage. 

The  Electrification  of 
Steam  Railroads  (In 
Press). 

A Financial  History  of 
The  Philadelphia 
Electric  Company. 

Standard  Specifications 
for  Construction 
Work  (In  prepara- 
tion). 

The  Relation  of  the 
Municipality  to  The 
Problem  of  Unem- 
ployment (In  prep- 
aration). 


Describing  method  of  placing  streets  on  the 
city  plan,  their  legal  opening,  grading,  laying 
water  pipe  and  sewers  and  paving. 

A list  of  the  portraits  and  other  works  of  art, 
including  brief  descriptions. 

Comments  on  the  changing  attitude  of  Ameri- 
can cities  toward  the  utility  problem. 

Including  an  account  of  our  success  in  reducing 
the  cost  of  this  kind  of  work. 

Report  made  by  the  Bureau  of  Surveys  after  a 
long  inquiry  as  to  the  best  policy  for  Philadel- 
phia to  adopt  on  this  question. 

A study  of  this  subject  made  in  connection 
with  P.  R.R.  plans  for  the  development  of  a 
freight  classification  yard  in  Overbrook. 

A study  of  the  methods  by  which  this  company 
has  issued  securities  for  approximately  twice 
the  actual  present  value  of  the  property. 
Messrs.  W.  H.  Connell,  Carleton  E.  Davis  and 
George  S.  Webster,  in  charge  respectively  of 
the  Bureau  of  Highways,  Water  and  Surveys, 
have  collaborated  on  the  work  of  providing 
specifications  for  their  common  use. 

A study  by  Jos.  H.  Willits,  Instructor  in  Indus- 
try, Wharton  School  of  the  University  of 
Pennsylvania,  into  the  causes  of  unemploy- 
ment and  the  lines  along  which  the  city  govern- 
ment may  co-operate  in  minimizing  it.  Mr. 
Willits  is  at  present  general  inspector  in  this 
office. 


STATUS  OF  THE  EMPLOYEE 

The  character  of  municipal  administration  in  this  country 
will  only  improve  in  proportion  as  a betterment  is  brought  about 
in  the  quality  of  the  individual  service  rendered  by  the  average 
municipal  employee.  Nothing  will  have  a more  powerful  effect 


26 


in  attracting  high  grade  men  and  women  to  the  municipal 
service  than  by  surrounding  their  employment  with  every  pos- 
sible safeguard  and  by  assisting  them,  in  the  broadest  fashion, 
through  fair  treatment,  high  wages  and  by  placing  at  their  dis- 
posal educational  and  other  advantages.  Obviously  progress 
along  these  lines  must  be  slow.  We  feel,  however,  that  during 
the  past  three  years  we  have  at  least  staked  out  the  lines  along 
which  progress  in  this  field  can  and  must  be  made. 

During  the  past  year,  for  instance,  a course  in  highway  en- 
gineering taught  by  one  of  the  assistant  engineers  in  the  Bureau 
of  Highways  has  been  given  by  the  central  branch  of  the  local 
Y.  M.  C.  A.,  and  for  the  second  time  a course  of  lectures  on 
Scientific  Management  especially  designed  for  municipal  em- 
ployees has  been  given  under  the  same  auspices. 

Philadelphia’s  great  educational  need,  viewed  from  the  stand- 
point of  the  municipal  employee,  is  the  creation,  preferably  at. 
the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  of  what  is  known  in  Germany 
as  a municipal  college.  The  undergraduate  courses  should  be 
designed  to  lead  directly  to  the  municipal  service.  Graduate 
courses  covering  various  phases  of  municipal  engineering  and 
municipal  administration  could  be  given  in  such  a way  as  to 
permit  of  their  being  taken  by  men  occupied  during  at  least  a 
part  of  the  day  in  earning  their  living  in  the  municipal  service. 

It  is  well  to  remind  ourselves  constantly  that  education  is 
something  not  alone  for  those  at  the  top.  In  recognition  of  this 
fact  during  this  last  year  in  the  Bureau  of  Water  regular  classes 
have  been  carried  on  at  some  of  our  pumping  stations  for  the 
benefit  of  the  fireroom  forces.  The  following  is  a synopsis  of 
one  of  these  weekly  talks  as  summarized  for  the  bulletin  board: 

Talk  No.  4-  Last  week  the  chimneys  smoked  more  than  necessary. 

The  bar  was  put  in  the  fire  too  much  and  green  coal  was  pushed  down 
too  soon  toward  the  dump  grate.  Now  in  Talk  No.  2,  we  took  up 
the  different  kinds  of  gases  given  off  when  coal  is  heated.  If  the 
carbon  which  is  in  these  gases  meets  and  unites  with  only  a small 
amount  of  oxygen  in  the  air,  a mixture  of  gases  is  formed  which  burns 
to  CO.  If  the  carbon  meets  and  unites  with  a larger  amount  of  air, 
the  mixture  which  is  formed  burns  to  CO2. 

When  CO  is  formed,  the  heat  which  is  developed  by  the  burning  is 
only  about  4400  B.  T.  U.  per  pound  of  carbon.  When  C02  is  formed 


27 


in  the  burning,  about  14,600  B.  T.  U.  is  formed,  or  more  than  three 
times  as  much  heat.  If  CO  goes  away  and -up  the  chimney,  just  that 
amount  of  possible  heat  is  lost.  CO  is  the  gas  that  is  made  by  the 
U.  G.  I.  to  sell  at  $1.00  per  thousand  cubic  feet.  Think  of  the  waste 
if  we  let  gas  which  is  worth  $1.00  a thousand  cubic  feet  go  up  the 
chimney.  This  may  seem  absurd  but  it  is  a fact  just  the  same. 
When  you  put  the  bar  in  the  fire  and  push  a large  amount  of  green 
coal  down  to  the  dump  grate,  you  let  the  light  gas  distill  off  so  quickly 
and  in  such  large  amounts  that  it  has  no  time  to  take  up  the  proper 
amount  of  oxygen.  The  result  is  that  a great  deal  of  unburned  carbon 
in  the  CO  gas  goes  up  the  stack  in  great  clouds  of  smoke. 

The  object  of  these  gatherings  is  to  bring  to  the  attention  of 
the  firemen  lessons  which  may  be  drawn  from  incidents  and 
happenings  of  the  week  with  a view  to  increasing  the  interest 
of  the  men  and  effecting  economies  thereby. 

Another  important  cause  of  municipal  inefficiency  is  the  mili- 
tary system  of  control  which  attempts  to  place  all  authority 
and  consequently  all  credit  for  good  work  at  the  top.  This  con- 
stitutes a grave  municipal  sin,  nation-wide  in  its  field  of  opera- 
tion. In  the  conduct  of  this  department  we  have  attempted  to 
place  the  responsibility  for  the  work  of  each  bureau  as  much  as 
possible  with  the  bureau.  The  bureaus  themselves  have  made 
the  studies  and  reached  the  decisions  and  assumed  the  responsi- 
bility; hence  the  credit  for  advanced  and  good  work  belongs 
almost  entirely  to  them.  The  bureau  chiefs  have  been  encour- 
aged wherever  possible  to  use  the  same  policy  in  placing  the 
responsibility  for  the  details  of  the  work  with  the  respective 
divisions.  The  good  which  will  ultimately  result  from  the  gen- 
eral adoption  of  this  scheme  can  be  said  to  have  only  begun. 
It  will  take  some  years  of  consistently  following  such  a'  policy 
to  get  our  employees  generally  to  realize  that  after  all  responsi- 
bility is  an  individual  matter  and  it  can  only  properly  be  as- 
sumed by  the  individual  employee  who  is  actually,  in  touch 
with  the  work. 

One  of  the  principal  objects  of  the  prize  competition  which 
has  already  been  mentioned  was  to  bring  home  to  each  indi- 
vidual employee  a feeling  of  interest  in  and  responsibility  for 
his  or  her  own  work.  As  time  goes  on  and  our  organization 
becomes  more  perfect  and  the  work  itself  better  standardized,  it 


28 


is  going  to  be  profitable  to  offer  a large 
number  of  prizes  covering  different 
parts  of  the  work,  to  be  given  to  those 
who  get  results.  Four  of  our  bureaus 
are  organized  in  such  a way  that  the 
work  of  two  or  more  offices  or  divi- 
sions doing  the  same  kind  of  work  can 
be  pitted  one  against  the  other  in  a 
friendly  rivalry  that  cannot  help  but 
improve  the  quality  of  the  work  and 
reduce  costs.  At  the  present  time  mu- 
nicipal administration  in  this  country  is  on  almost  as  military 
a basis  as  is  the  government  of  the  German  Empire. 

A great  many  different  things  have  been 
done  in  order  to  make  our  employees  more 
self-respecting.  Perhaps  the  principal  step 
in  this  direction  has  been  the  fight  against 
political  activity  and  especially  against 
the  levying  of  political  assessments.  While 
it  is  undoubtedly  true  that  we  have  in  our 
employ  a great  many  potential  political 
workers,  it  is  equally  true  that  political 
activity  on  their  part  has  been  virtually 
eliminated.  This  is  all  the  more  remark- 
able in  view  of  the  large  part  which  it 
formerly  played  in  the  lives  of  my  associates. 

In  publishing  “The  Political  Assessment  of  Office-Holders,” 
a pamphlet  reporting  on  the  system  as 
practised  by  the  republican  organization 
in  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  1883-1913, 
these  facts  were  established: 

First:  Approximately  94  per  cent,  of  all 
city  employees  paid  assessments.  It 
was  and  is  against  the  law  to  solicit 
these  subscriptions. 

Footnote — The  six  illustrations  on  this  and  the  follow- 
ing page  were  entered  in  the  Prize  Competition  by  Felix 
D.  Hurwitz,  inspector,  Bureau  of  Highways. 


Aman  to  secure  a City  position  no  longer 
has  to  do  this,  thus  placing  himself  under 
obligations  to  his  ward  leader 


29 


Second:  It  was  generally  understood 
throughout  the  service  that  those 
who  did  not  pay  would  be  dis- 
charged. 

Third:  The  character  and  standing  of 
some  of  those  who  are  shown  to 
have  paid  indicates  that  high 
standing  did  not  exempt.  The  di- 
rector paid  $1200  per  annum  and 
his  associates  in  proportion. 

Fourth:  These  “contributions”  totaled 
several  hundred  thousand  dollars  every  year. 

Fifth:  The  sworn  statements  of  the  treasurers  of  republican 
committees  show  that  these  reports 
did  not  account  for  these  contribu- 
tions secured  from  officeholders. 

Sixth:  The  system  is  still  in  force  ex- 
cept in  the  departments  under  the 
mayor  and  city  solicitor. 

That  a system  which  so  completely 
permeated  every  division  of  the  work 
of  this  department  has  been  so  largely 
done  away  with  should  be  a source  of 
civic  congratulation. 

We  are  constantly  asked  as  to  the 
attitude  of  the  employees  themselves  in  this  matter.  It  can  be 
stated  without  any  possibility  of  contradiction  that  given  the 
assurance  of  such  continuity  of  employ- 
ment as  is  guaranteed  by  a properly  op- 
erated civil  service  our  municipal  em- 
ployees as  a class  have  no  desire  to  com- 
bine political  activity  with  their  regular 
occupations.  What  may  be  taken  as 
perhaps  showing  the  trend  of  thought  is 
cleverly  expressed  in  the  following  verses 
submitted1  in  the  prize  competition: 

1 By  Miss  Eleanor  Clifton,  correspondence  clerk 
director's  office. 


bad  Streets 
Dama'Zed  Sidewalks 
Rubblshllncollected 
him  Street  Lights 
Poor  Service 
Rotten  Contract  Work 
Lack  or  Efficiency 


As  a result  he  realized  that  it  was  not 
a question  of  efficiency,  but  politics, 
and  the  above  was  the  outcome 


30 


BEFORE  AND  AFTER 

They  say  that  in  the  olden  days  the  wily  politician 
Would  prowl  about  the  city  on  a dark  and  daring  mission. 

’Tis  whispered  that  he  went  for  votes — that  may  be  mere  suspicion! 

He  praised  your  wife’s  embroidery  and  he  chucked  the  baby’s  chin, 
Stuck  a Cinco  in  your  pocket  as  he  grasped  your  horny  fin, 

He  kissed  the  children  one  and  all  without  the  slightest  qualm, 

But — as  he  left  with  warm  farewells,  you  spied  the  upturned  palm. 


« 

w. 

.omsi0« 

(Q&l  (3^ 

— 

because  all  employees  were 
used  in  politics  it  was  necess- 
ary to  keep  a record  of  their 
political  residence  by  ward 
and  division.  This  has  been 
stopped  and  — 


The  - same  space  is  now  used 
to  record  the  name  of  the 
nearest  relative  or^n'end  — 
the  one  to  be  called  incase 
of  serious  illness. 


The  times  are  different  now,  and  you  can  hoard  your  hard-earned  pelf, 
Or  blow  your  extra  nickels  on  your  family  and  yourself. 

Political  Assessments  have  been  laid  upon  the  shelf! 

Rejoice,  ye  office-holders,  for  those  once-demanded  dues 
Can  go  to  pay  the  milkman  and  to  buy  the  baby’s  shoes. 

On  Sunday  you  can  feed  on  quail  instead  of  beef  and  mutton 
And  drop  a penny  in  the  plate  where  once  you  slipped  a button. 

The  time  is  fast  approaching  now  when  each  department  clerk 
Will  polish  up  the  little  Ford  and  motor  down  to  work. 


Footnote — The  illustration  on  this  page  was  entered  in  the  Prize  Competition  by 
Charles  P.  McDermott,  chief  clerk,  Bureau  of  City  Property. 


Night  Watchman  W 
ifdcpcadcjvccjftil 


Chi cf  Engineer 
Water  burcauPump'in^5tal}oa 


Stall  Park  Supenateside«t 


due/ 

Pressure  firStation 
bureau0/ Water 


Water  Waste  Inspector 


32 


The  uniforming  of  certain  classes  of  employees  has  been  a 
part  of  the  general  campaign  for  stimulating  a feeling  of  pride 
in  the  city  service.  This  very  generally  results,  in  private  as 
well  as  in  public  employment,  in  improving  the  standard  of  the 
employees,  especially  those  engaged  on  certain  classes  of  work. 
One  of  our  street  cleaning  contractors  discovered  that  it  was 
almost  impossible  to  keep  white  uniforms  on  men  who  were 
paid  but  $1.30  a day  and  not  given  steady  employment  at  that. 
In  order  to  avoid  being  fined  he  found  that  he  had  to  pay  a 
minimum  of  $1.50  a day  and  give  steady  work: 

In  removing  garbage  from  the  scows  tied  to  the  wharf  at  the 
reduction  plant  it  formerly  was  the  custom  of  the  contractor  to 
have  men  work  knee  deep  and  sometimes  almost  up  to  their 
waists,  shoveling  the  garbage  on  to  the  belt  conveyors.  Those 
unaccustomed  to  such  things  will  find  it  difficult  to  picture  this 
scene  in  its  utter  demoralization.  I have  seen  witli  my  own  eyes 
these  men  lying  in  the  putrifying  garbage  fast  asleep — so  de- 
graded had  they  become  by  the  process.  It  is  well-nigh  impos- 
sible for  any  industrial  establishment  to  reach  a high  level  of 
efficiency  when  degrading  work  such  as  this  is  permitted  at  any 
point.  The  contractor  on  this  work — one  who  had  grown  rich 
and  prosperous  through  making  the  city  pay  two  prices  for  its 
garbage  removal  and  disposal — informed  us  that  the  men  en- 
gaged on  this  work  formerly  really  ‘diked  it”.  This  work  is  now 
done  with  a clam-shell  scoop  at  a considerable  saving. 

Our  employees  have  been  encouraged  to  come  together  for 
social  and  other  purposes  outside  of  working  hours  in  order  to 
build  up  a spirit  of  comradeship  throughout  the  department. 
The  annual  banquet  held  on  Franklin’s  Birthday  Anniversary, 
January  17,  at  the  Wanamaker  store,  was  attended  by  1300 
men  and  women  and  turned  out  to  be  even  a bigger  success  than 
the  first  one.  Mayor  Mitchel  of  New  York  and  Mayor  Blanken- 
burg  were  the  guests  of  honor. 

Some  progress  has  been  made  in  the  development  of  athletics. 
For  the  second  year  the  baseball  competition  between  the  dif- 
ferent bureaus  resulted  in  the  award  of  the  Director’s  Cup  to 
the  Bureau  of  Water  after  a series  of  games  which  enlisted  a 
good  deal  of  interest.  A successful  benefit  for  the  athletic  asso- 


ANNUAL  BANQUET  OF  THE  DEPARTMENT 


34 


ciation  was  given  at  one  of  the  principal  theatres.  On  May 
28  the  tennis  club  which  embraces  in  its  membership  prac- 
tically all  the  young  women  of  the  department  gave  an  enjoy- 
able dance  at  the  Kingsessing  Recreation  Park.  This  organiza- 
tion has  the  use  of  two  tennis  courts  immediately  adjacent  to 
the  Mount  Airy  Reservoir. 

I cannot  too  strongly  urge  that  steps  be  taken  by  the  munici- 
pality to  provide  ample  recreation  grounds  for  its  employees. 
If  this  is  good  business  for  department  stores  and  other  private 
enterprises  it  certainly  should  be  for  the  municipality.  With 
the  city’s  large  acreage  of  land,  much  of  it  unused,  it  has  been 
found  to  be  practically  impossible  for  the  city  ball  teams  to 
make  arrangements  ahead  for  places  where  they  will  be  sure 
they  will  be  undisturbed  in  playing  off  a series  of  games. 

The  organization  of  the  Mutual  Beneficial  and  Protective 
Association  of  the  Bureau  of  Water  seems  not  only  to  be  a step 
in  the  right  direction  but  to  suggest  that  we  are  only  beginning 
to  recognize  that  there  is  the  same  opportunity  for  this  kind  of 
work  as  in  private  undertakings.  While  presumably  one  of  the 
reasons  for  forming  this  organization  was  to  secure  for  its 
members  higher  wages,  it  is  believed  the  more  important  indirect 
result  of  fostering  social  intercourse  between  its  members  and 
the  building  up  of  bureau  solidarity  and  the  payment  of  sick 
benefits  will  prove  in  the  long  run  its  principal  object.  A plan 
is  now  being  formulated  for  a loan  feature  to  be  operated  in 
connection  with  this  association.  One  largely  attended  social 
function  has  already  been  given.  There  are  indications  that  the 
association  will  interest  itself  in  bettering  the  efficiency  of  the 
several  pumping  stations  and  other  municipal  plants  from  which 
it  draws  its  membership. 

During  the  Christmas  season  the  members  of  the  department 
through  contributions  of  money  and  toys  brightened  the  homes 
of  about  150  fellow  employees.  The  contributions  were  both 
liberal  and  widely  distributed  through  the  several  bureaus. 
This  work,  which  involved  considerable  labor,  was  done  by  a 
large  number  of  employees  who  voluntarily  gave  up  their 
evenings  just  prior  to  Christmas  and  New  Year  for  the  prepara- 
tion of  baskets  containing  food  and  gifts. 


35 


Arrangements  have  been  made  during  the  year  with  the  Board 
of  City  Trusts  and  other  agencies  whereby  we  have  been  able 
to  secure  all  the  coal  necessary  to  meet  the  needs  of  those  of 
our  people  under  special  financial  stress. 

In  the  prize  competition  Arthur  C.  Merrill,  superintendent  of 


WATER  BUREAU  COMMISSARY  DEPARTMENT  i 
Furnishes  hot  coffee  and  “eats”  to  the  men  detailed  on  street  work  at  night 
during  the  winter  months. 

meters,  Bureau  of  Water,  thus  describes  another  improvement 
which  is  splendidly  indicative  of  the  new  spirit  of  the  depart- 
ment: 

The  establishment  of  a commissary  department  in  the  Bureau  of 
Water  to  provide  meals  for  the  men  engaged  in  emergency  work  is  a 

1This  suggestion  entered  in  Prize  Competition  by  Arthur  C.  Merrill,  Superintendent 
of  Meters,  Bureau  of  Water. 


36 


,-TI1£  oLD_ADninisTRATion — step  jn  direction.  It  has  been 

rone onToA^inm^Err 0^J  installed  at  a very  small  cost  and  in 
wiThus ahd HtoontGETAVACAr/o// iiNfl ll  addition  to  decreasing  the  hardship  re- 

quired of  these  men  at  such  times,  it 
will  return  many  fold  its  cost  by  giving 
each  man  an  in- 
creased efficiency. 

Work  of  this 
nature  usually  comes 
in  severe  weather  and 
invariably  requires 
continuous  attention 
both  night  and  day 
until  the  job  is  com- 
pleted. Unless  the 
break  has  occurred 
near  a place  where 
food  can  be  bought 

during  the  night,  the  men  have  been  obliged  to  practice  Christian 
Science  and  believe  that  they  were  not  hungry  and  did  not  need 
warm  drink  unless  some  thoughtful  citizen  in  the  neighborhood 
took  pity  on  them  and  made  a pot  of  coffee  and  some  sandwiches. 

Happily  this  condition  is  now  ancient  history  and  the  Water 
Bureau,  while  looking  out  for  the  welfare  of  its  workmen,  has  de- 
creased the  time  which  any  section  of  the  city  might  be  deprived  of 
its  normal  water  supply  through  breaks  in  its  distribution  system. 


CHILDREn-Lro  GOTOThE  PARK  TODAY  “AMDMEXT 

norm  whem  i get  hy  vacatiom  vyru  goto  the 
5EAbH0RE  FORTWO  WEEKS  - 


Vacations  are  now  given  to  all  “regular”  employees.  We 
should  look  forward  to  the  time  when  we  will  give  a vacation 
to  every  employee  for  the  simple  reason  that  every  employee 
should  be  a regular  employee.  It  has  been  the  custom  espe- 
cially in  the  Bureau  of  Highways  to  lay  men  off  during  the 
winter  months.  This  year,  largely  owing  to  the  unusual  indus- 
trial conditions,  it  was  decided  to  retain  the  services  of  these 
men  even  though  weather  conditions  would  permit  them  to  work 
only  part  time.  Owing  to  the  open  character  of  the  winter  there 
were  more  working  days  than  we  had  anticipated  and  the 
change  proved  a great  boon  to  the  men.  Last  year  when  the 
men  were  laid  off  we  were  successful  in  placing  many  of  them 
in  private  establishments. 

If  the  appropriations  could  be  determined  earlier  in  the  year 


Footnote — The  drawing  reproduced  on  this  page  was  entered  in  the  Prize  Competi- 
tion by  John  C.  Vogelsang,  engineer,  Bur.eau  of  Water. 


37 


so  that  work  of  all  kinds  could  be  started  earlier,  and  these 
spread  out  over  a longer  time,  it  would  be  possible  for  our 
bureaus  to  get  along  with  a smaller  number  of  men  at  the  peak. 
This  would  mean  a smaller  laboring  force  and  make  it  possible 
to  keep  our  men  more  steadily  employed  throughout  the  year. 
Again  if  the  co-operation  of  City  Councils  could  be  secured  so 
that  appropriations  made  to  one  branch  of  the  administration 
for  a certain  kind  of  work  could  be  expended  by  another  divi- 
sion, other  ways  might  be  opened  for  increasing  the  continuity 
of  employment.  Interrupted  employment  is  one  of  the  grave 
industrial  weaknesses  of  our  country  and  no  class  of  employers 
is  more  callous  in  this  respect  than  are  our  larger  municipalities. 
On  the  average  the  American  employer  hires  and  fires  as  many 
people  in  a year  as  he  regularly  employs.  Thus  an  employer 
with  1000  people  on  his  payroll  will,  on  the  average,  hire  and 
lay  off  1000  people  each  year.  In  some  industries  this  per- 
centage, called  the  labor  turn-over,  is  even  higher. 

An  interesting  development  which  has  grown  out  of  our  desire 
to  safeguard  in  every  way  the  spirit  of  civil  service  is  the 
somewhat  unofficial  notification  of  discharge  shown  on  page  38. 
The  civil  service  law  only  requires  that  the  director  shall  give 
an  employee  discharged  a specific  reason  for  such  discharge. 
The  employee  recognizes  that  in  ninety-nine  cases  out  of  a 
hundred  the  director  of  the  department  personally  knows  ab- 
solutely nothing  about  the  matter.  This  gives  rise  to  a sus- 
picion on  the  part  of  the  man  or  his  family  or  both  that  an 
injustice  is  being  done.  In  order  to  remove  this  very  just  cause 
for  complaint,  employees  now  receive  a notice  shown  in  the 
illustration — in  addition  to  the  one  required  by  the  law — in 
which  those  to  whom  he  immediately  reports,  such  as  foreman, 
superintendent  or  his  bureau  chief,  and  the  director  all  affix 
their  signatures. 

During  the  week  beginning  May  18,  known  as  “Retail 
Merchants’  Week,”  a course  of  evening  lectures  were  given  at 
four  different  points — Frankford,  Germantown,  West  Phila- 
delphia and  South  Philadelphia,  in  an  effort  to  point  out  to  the 
retail  merchants  in  these  outlying  districts  the  possibilities  of 
building  up  their  business  to  their  own  advantage  and  to  the 


38 


DEPARTMENT  OF  PUBLIC  WORKS 

BUREAU  OF  JI&tSB. 


Mr.  a.  J.  Pallor,  PhiLSrdphia,  June  9th,  1914 • 

(Office)  General  Superintendent, 

I have  to  report  that  Mr.  * * * * * 

(office)  Laborer  (address)  • • • • • 


Give  specific- 
ally, reasons 
for  making 
complaint: 


A 


Is  impudent  and  disorderly,  and  inclined  to  be  oritioal  as 
regards  work  given  him  to  do.  Refused  tp  take  orders  Or 


instructions  about  sledge  hamer  or  any  other  work,  which, 
(as  you  know)  is  a detriment  to  the  servioe.  This  oomplalnt 
is  based  on  Mr.  *****  notions  of  June  9th,  1914, 


(Name) 


(Office) 


Assistant  to  General  Sup’ t. 


(Date)  June  9th,  1914. 

Mr.  Carleton  E.  Davis, 

Chief,  Bureau  qf  Water, 

Mr.  * * * * * (office) ...  Laborer 

at  Belmont  Pumping  Station  has  been  reported  to  me  as  being  impudent  and 

disorderly,  eto.  (complaint  above.)  I have  investigated 

the  report  and  find  the  complaint  justified;  and  recommend  that 
Mr. 


B 


MR.  MORRIS  L.  COOKE,  Director, 
Department  qf  Public  Works 

I recommend  that  Mr.  ' 
(Office)  Laborer 


(Date) Jtane  13,. .1914, 


at  Belmont  Pumping  Station. 


be  dismissed  from  the  service  for  creating  disturbances,  and. a. aplrlt-otunreat.  by 
refusin'-  to  obey  reasonable  orders  willingly,  and  without  aiaonaolng..  the.  same. 

r 

Chief  qf  Bureau 


APPfty^ 


PSP* 


Director 

’UBLIC  WORKS. 


INFORMAL  NOTICE  OF  DISMISSAL 
Heretofore  employees  were  frequently  discharged  without  knowing  in  detail 
the  reasons  therefor. 


39 


betterment  of  the  city  as  a whole.  Addresses  were  made  at  these 
meetings  by  Mr.  Herbert  W.  Hess,  of  the  University  of  Penn- 
sylvania, and  Mr.  James  W.  Fisk,  editor  of  the  Dry  Goods  Econ- 
omist of  New  York  City  and  lecturer  at  the  University  of  Minne- 
sota and  elsewhere. 

There  is  an  always  apparent  tendency  to  bring  to  the  centre  of 
the  city  an  ever  increasing  proportion  of  the  retail  trade.  In  a 
city  the  size  of  Philadelphia  this  means  putting  upon  the  people 
themselves,  as  well  as  upon  the  streets  and  other  transit  facil- 
ities, an  unnecessary  burden.  It  has  seemed  to  us  to  be  good 
municipal  policy  to  encourage  in  every  way  the  upbuilding  of 
separate  retail  trade  centres,  and  more  particularly  those  located 
in  the  outlying  districts.  Wherever  opportunity  has  been 
offered  to  improve  the  paving,  cleaning  and  lighting  of  such 
thoroughfares,  we  have  embraced  it.  One  indirect  result  of 
having  even  a few  of  the  retail  trade  streets  well  paved,  well 
lighted  and  well  cleaned,  will  be  to  emphasize  to  our  people  the 
importance  of  having  these  civic  centres  and  to  educate  the  tax- 
payers to  demand  the  same  good  conditions  throughout  the  resi- 
dential districts.  In  other  words,  we  consider  a few  high-grade 
streets  of  this  kind  located  in  places  where  the  people  will  see 
them  the  best  possible  advertisement  of  the  municipal  work  with 
which  this  department  is  charged. 

A very  successful  intercity  conference  on  the  subject  of  snow 
removal  was  held  April  16-17,  participated  in  by  officials  of 
about  twenty  of  the  largest  eastern  cities.  Ten  or  twelve  papers 
were  presented.  This  subject  for  the  first  time  was  treated  as 
an  engineering  problem  and  one  demanding  not  only  intelligent 
but  systematic  treatment.  A committee  on  resolutions  was 
appointed  with  Capt.  Mark  Brooke,  U.  S.  A.,  Assistant  Engineer 
Commissioner,  Washington,  D.  C.,  as  its  chairman.  Owing  to 
the  removal  of  Capt.  Brooke  to  the  Philippine  Islands  the  work 
of  this  committee  was  carried  on  under  the  direction  of  William 
H.  Connell,  Chief  of  our  Bureau  of  Highways,  and  its  report 
read  at  the  annual  meeting  of  the  American  Society  Mechanical 
Engineers  on^  December  3 in  the  Engineering  Societies  Build- 
ing in  New  York.  The  report  will  be  published  as  part  of  the 
Transactions  of  that  society.  This  conference  and  the  report 


40 


which  resulted  from  it  may  be  considered  the  beginning  of  the 
treatment  of  this  problem  as  a distinct  and  important  branch  of 
municipal  engineering. 

This  department  being  the  one  in  which  more  contract  work 
is  carried  on  than  in  any  other,  is  principally  at  interest  in  the 
matter  of  loan  funds.  We  called  the  attention  of  the  heads  of 
city  and  county  departments  to  the  unnecessarily  large  balances 
of  loan  funds  constantly  in  the  hands  of  the  city  treasurer,  with 
the  thought  that  if  this  total  could  be  reduced  the  economies 
resulting  from  lowered  interest  payments  would  put  at  the  dis- 
posal of  City  Councils  further  monies  for  construction  work. 
As  a result  of  this  suggestion  a bill  was  drafted  by  the  City 
Solicitor  and  presented  to  the  Legislature  by  a committee 
representing  the  department  heads,  and  passed;  this  makes  it 
possible  to  pool  all  the  funds  resulting  from  any  one  loan.  This 
is  one  of  the  principal  causes  which  has  led  to  the  reduction  by 
several  million  dollars  in  the  total  of  loan  fund  balances.  We 
are  now  urging  tho  passage  of  further  legislation  which  will  pool 
in  a similar  way  all  loan  funds  and  thus  permit  of  further  reduc- 
tion in  the  total.  The  ultimate  step  will  be  to  pool  all  funds — 
those  resulting  from  taxation,  loans  and  other  sources. 

It  is,  of  course,  an  old-fashioned  idea  that  keeping  sep- 
arate the  cash  coming  from  different  sources  acts  as  any 
check  against  its  improper  expenditure.  An  individual  does  not 
find  it  necessary  or  profitable  to  keep  in  different  pockets  moneys 
coming  as  the  result  of  investments  and  that  coming  as  a result 
of  salary  or  wages.  Ultimately  our  cities  will  find  it  possible 
by  the  pooling  of  all  cash,  no  matter  what  the  origin,  to  prose- 
cute their  work  with  smaller  balances. 

It  seems  curious  that  with  the  apparent  opportunity  there  is 
for  a very  general  and  profitable  overhauling  of  our  financial 
system  there  should  have  been  made  so  few  and  such  minor 
changes  during  the  last  few  years.  It  would  appear  to  be  a 
good  theory  of  municipal  finance  that  each  part  of  the  work 
should  be  self-sustaining.  It  apparently  is  just  as  wrong  to 
make  the  charges  at  any  one  point  more  than  enough  to  pay  for 
the  work  as  it  is  to  make  them  too  small.  The  incomes  from 
various  undertakings  in  this  department  are  almost  invariably 


41 


either  too  great  or  too  small.  The  mechanisms  for  making 
changes  are  entirely  too  antiquated;  for  instance,  the  charges  in 
the  Bureau  of  Surveys  were  established  in  1867  when  conditions 
were  absolutely  different  from  those  that  obtain  to-day;  some 
of  the  charges  are  consequently  much  too  high  and  others  en- 
tirely too  low.  Our  charge  of  $1.50  per  foot  front  for  sewer 
construction  is  probably  one-half  of  what  it  should  be.  Many 
.of  our  fixture  charges  for  water  would  be  characterized  as  high- 
way robbery  if  charged  by  private  concerns,  whereas  on  the 
other  hand,  the  cubic  foot  rate  for  water  is  too  low. 

Again  the  state  automobile  tax,  even  if  given  to  the  city, 
would  be  entirely  inadequate  to  cover  the  damage  done  to  the 
roads  by  this  class  of  vehicle.  I am  quite  sure  that  a tax  fairly 
levied  on  this  class  of  vehicle,  with  the  assurance  that  the  money 
was  to  be  spent  especially  on  our  main  traffic  streets  to  keep 
them  in  good  condition,  would  be  almost  a popular  tax.  Auto- 
mobile owners  would  very  soon  find  out  that  a relatively  small 
increase  in  the  license  fee  would  be  more  than  offset  by  a reduc- 
tion in  repairs.  The  goal  toward  which  we  should  work,  it  seems 
to  me,  would  be  to  have  as  many  of  our  municipal  activities 
self-supporting  as  possible.  This  gives  the  public  an  oppor- 
tunity to  decide  for  itself  whether  it  desires  to  go  ahead  with 
any  given  line  of  activity  and,  if  so,  on  what  basis.  So  long  as 
the  people  do  not  know  what  it  costs  or  if  they  are  made  to  feel 
that  either  it  costs  a great  deal  more  or  much  less  than  it 
actually  does  cost,  they  are  not  in  a position  to  give  an  intelli- 
gent decision.  It  is  interesting  to  note  in  this  connection  that 
in  Germany  this  principle  is  followed  even  to  the  extent  of 
making  those  who  have  fires  in  their  home  or  place  of  business 
pay  the  full  expense  of  putting  out  such  fires.  This  puts  a 
premium  on  so  maintaining  the  premises  that  fires  do  not  occur. 

At  the  request  of  Director  Loeb  we  interested  ourselves  in 
the  preparation  of  standard  specifications  for  printing  the  an- 
nual reports  of  the  departments  under  the  Mayor,  of  which  this 
publication  is  one.  The  cost  of  printing  these  reports  in  1912 
was  something  over  $17,000,  and  in  the  five  preceding  years  it 
had  cost  an  average  of  $12,250.  The  report  for  1913  was  pub- 
lished at  approximately  $5500,  and  the  contract  for  this  present 


42 


volume  has  been  let  out  at  about  the  same  figure.  Thus  it  will 
be  seen  that  through  a detailed  study  of  the  work,  its  reduction 
to  standard  specifications  and  the  securing  of  outside  competi- 
tion, the  cost  of  this  report  has  been  more  than  cut  in  two.  A 
pamphlet  covering  this  inquiry  has  been  published  by  the  depart- 
ment under  the  title,  “Standard  Specifications  for  Book  Printing”. 

The  fact  has  also  been  developed  that  practically  all  public 
printing  in  Philadelphia  is  absolutely  under  the  control  of  one 
printing  concern  and  that  a combination  of  employing  printers, 
which  includes  practically  all  the  largest  firms  in  Philadelphia, 
acquiesces  in  this  control.  The  same  discovery  was  made  in 
New  York  two  or  three  years  ago,  and  as  a result  the  new  ad- 
ministration has  been  able  to  cut  the  bills  for  printing  in  half, 
saving  in  that  city  annually  something  over  $700,000.  It  can 
be  stated  with  little  possibility  of  contradiction  that  the  same 
sort  of  corrupt  understanding  between  political  graft  and  an 
illegal  trade  combination  exists  in  most  of  the  large  cities  of  the 
country.  The  fact  that  the  printing  industry  has,  as  a whole, 
for  the  past  fifteen  or  twenty  years  relied  on  this  sort  of  com- 
bination in  both  public  and  private  work  is  one  of  the  reasons 
why  it  is  one  of  the  most  inefficient  in  its  manufacturing  methods 
and  management. 

It  would  take  a large  volume  even  to  list  and  briefly  describe 
the  great  number  of  small  changes  which  have  been  made  in  the 
methods  of  the  department  as  a whole  and  of  its  several  bureaus. 
Largely  for  the  benefit  of  our  own  employees  rather  than  for 
the  public  I wish  to  point  out  that  this  is  a very  unusual  con- 
dition. It  is  almost  the  uniform  attitude  in  public  and  private 
work  that  the  methods  under  which  operations  may  at  any  one 
time  be  conducted  are  pretty  nearly  right.  Even  minor  changes 
come  slowly  and  as  the  result  of  mature  deliberation.  I do  not 
believe  there  has  been,  in  connection  with  any  other  piece  of 
public  or  private  work,  an  instance  of  where  so  many  changes 
big  and  little  have  been  brought  about  in  such  a short  time,  and 
where  the  idea  of  change  in  the  methods  of  doing  things  has 
become  so  largely  the  idea  of  the  day.  It  is  so  unusual  that  it 
speaks  well  for  the  personnel  of  the  department  that  we  have 
been  able  to  come  through  with  a closer  organization  and  more 


43 


genuine  department  esprit  de  corps  than  we  had  before. 

A few  examples  will  at  least  suggest  the  wide  range  of  these 
minor  changes.  For  our  printed  matter  we  have  established  as 
our  principal  standard  an  8^2x1 1-inch  size,  printed  on  one  side, 
and  not  folded.  Unfortunately  the  relations  of  our  work  with 
some  of  the  other  departments  is  so  close  that  without  outside 
co-operation  we  cannot  go  as  far  as  we  would  like.  In  the 
accompanying  illustration  is  shown  the  difference  in  space  occu- 
pied by  17  contracts  for  street  work,  first  when  folded,  and 
second  when  flat.  One  would  hardly  imagine  that  these  are  the 
same  papers.  We  are  forced  to  fold  them  on  account  of  another 


DON’T  FOLD  BUSINESS  PAPERS 

The  seventeen  copies  of  specifications  on  the  right  are  shown  folded  in  the  basket. 

department  that  seems  to  be  principally  actuated  by  a desire 
to  use  an  old-fashioned  filing  cabinet. 

We  have  cut  out  the  use  of  the 'names  of  the  individual 
who  happens  to  hold  a certain  position  at  a given  time.  In 
our  inter-departmental  correspondence  letters  are  addressed  to 
the  director  or  to  the  several  bureau  chiefs  or  to  their  various 
assistants  by  title.  The  names  of  individuals  are  not  used  at  all 
on  printed  matter.  This  has  reduced  very  appreciably  the  num- 
ber of  pieces  of  printed  matter.  Much  effort  has  been 
devoted  to  the  standardization  of  supplies  both  for  office  and 
construction  work.  This  has  led,  of  course,  to  improvements  in 


44 


BUREAU  OF  WATER  PIPE  YARD— TWO  VIEWS 


the  materials  and  tools  used,  as  well  as  a lessening  of  the 
quantity  that  it  is  required  to  have  on  hand. 

A very  great  amount  of  cleaning  up  has  been  done.  Here- 
with are  given  two  views  of  one  of  the  Water  Bureau  pipe  yards. 
There  is  no  public  nor  private  concern  operating  in  Philadelphia 
and  handling  supplies  of  this  kind  that  can  show  either  a yard 
putting  up  a better  physical  appearance  or  a more  accurate 
record  of  the  stock  on  hand. 

On  the  full  page  cut  opposite  are  given  four  photographs — 
two  before  and  two  after — of  the  storeroom  of  my  own  office. 
This  room  had  remained  practically  untouched  for  twenty-five 
years.  “The  dust  was  so  thick  and  sharp  that  the  men  had  to 
work  in  relays  and  nose  bleeding  was  not  an  uncommon  thing.” 
Here  again  the  arrangement  of  the  material  which  resulted  from 
this  house-cleaning  can  be  favorably  compared  with  the  best 
that  is  found  in  private  enterprise. 

For  over  three  years  now  a serious  effort  has  been  made  to 


Tables  piled  high  with  dust  covered 
books-  some  of  them  falling  to  pieces. 
Last  years  records  side  by  side  with 
those 65  years  old. 


Neat  row  of  correspondence, 
files  arranged  by  dates  oro- 
shelves 


Wooden  cases,  books,  loose 
papers  - old  and  new  - pi  led 
one  on  top  of  the  other.  To 
look  at  one  thing  something 
else  had  to  be  moved 


The  removal  of  4 tons  of  obsolete  books, 
papers  and  trash  made  possible  glass 
covered  cases  for  letter  copy  books 
and  other  frequently  consulted  records. 


HOUSECLEANING  EVERYWHERE 

Four  photographs  showing  the  condition  of  the  storage  room  '/the  Department  °f Public 
Works.  Diiectors  office  prior  to  this  Administration  and  NOW.  This  cleaning  up  is  typical  / what  has  beer\ 
necessary  all  over  the  Department . 


46 


keep  track  of  our  automobile  service  as  to  mileage  covered, 
gasoline  consumption  and  cost  of  repairs.  Each  year  has  seemed 
to  give  us  a more  definite  control  and  to  provide  cost  data 
which,  in  view  of  the  growing  number  of  automobiles,  will  be  of 
great  service. 

The  bills  that  go  out  for  water  rents  and  other  similar  kinds 
of  service  are  now  typewritten  on  standard  forms  which,  by 
modern  office  mechanisms  permit  the  bill,  its  duplicate  and  the 
book  record  all  to  be  made  at  the  one  time.  A splendid  example 
.of  this  kind  of  work  is  the  new  form  of  contract  voucher  in  use 
in  the  different  survey  districts.  This  supersedes  a number  of 
other  forms  and  combines  with  it  all  the  necessary  certificates 
and  the  city  controller’s  voucher  on  the  one  piece  of  paper. 

In  the  Bureau  of  City  Property,  for  the  first  time  I believe  in 
the  history  of  the  city,  some  cash  discounts  are  being  taken  for 
prompt  payment  of  bills.  In  every  instance  vouchers  are  mailed 
out  to  the  payee  so  as  to  make  it  unnecessary  to  call  at  City 
Hall.  This  latter  is  such  an  obvious  improvement  which  could 
be  applied  almost  without  any  trouble  at  different  points  in  the 
city  service  that  one  wonders  why  it  has  to  battle  so  hard  for 
recognition.  When  one  thinks  of  the  tens  of  thousands  who  are 
inconvenienced  because  they  are  forced  to  come  to  the  City  Hall 
to  pay  water  rents  and  real  estate  tax,  to  secure  permits  and  to 
transact  other  business,  it  is  difficult  to  see  why  the  city  cannot 
take  the  steps  taken  by  private  concerns  to  encourage  business 
by  mail.  Every  consideration  of  good  business  and  economy 
suggests  so  conducting  public  business  that  the  maximum  num- 
ber of  people  shall  be  kept  away  from  City  Hall;  otherwise  an 
undue  tax  is  placed  upon  the  elevators  and  our  other  equipment. 
In  our  own  office  the  regularity  with  which  bills  are  now  paid 
is  as  day  compared  to  night  with  what  preceded  it. 

Vertical  steel  filing  cases  with  full  index  have  replaced  the 
vertical  document  files  which  required  papers  to  be  folded  or 
rolled  and  allowed  no  index,  beyond  numbering.  This  has  also 
added  greatly  to  the  economy  of  the  room  occupied  by  filed  mat- 
ter, to  the  neatness  in  form  and  the  ultimate  length  of  the 
preservation.  A splendid  example  of  this  kind  of  reorganiza- 
tion work  is  shown  in  the  new  filing  cabinets  in  the  registrar’s 


47 


office,  Bureau  of  Surveys.  Flat-top  sanitary  desks  have  almost 
entirely  replaced  the  old  roll-top  desks  with  their  many  pigeon- 
holes and  accumulation  of  dust,  and  facilities  for  losing  papers 
which  should  be  kept  in  motion  until  ready  for  filing.  Re- 


FILING  CABINET  FOR  PLANS  i 
Registry  /Division,  Bureau  of  Surveys. 

porters,  contractors  and  solicitors  formerly  had  the  run  of  the 
director’s  office  and  the  Bureau  of  Highways  and  in  passing 
through  distracted  attention;  now  by  the  erection  of  the  run- 
way corridors  only  persons  having  authorized  business  are  ad- 

Entered  in  the  Prize  Competition  by  Wilmer  Z.  Kline  draftsman.  Bureau  of  Surveys. 


48 


mitted,  and  they  have  direct  access  to  the  person  wanted  with- 
out disturbing  others. 

Painting  the  floors  of  City  Hall  corridors  has  added  greatly 
to  their  illumination,  and  also  prevented  the  accumulation  of 
dirt.  The  use  of  dust  absorbent  material  in  cleaning  these  floors 
has  enabled  the  sweepers  to  frequently  clean  the  passageways 
without  being  annoying  to  the  public  while  doing  so.  The  use 
of  umbrella  jars  as  a substitute  for  cuspidors  has  also  made  a 
desirable  change  as  regards  not  only  their  appearance  but  the 
actual  prevention  of  dirt  in  the  corridors  and  the  economy  of 
labor  required  to  keep  them  clean. 

Progress  has  been  made  in  developing  the  messenger  service 
of  this  department,  particularly  in  relation  to  the  handling  of 
inter-bureau  communications.  A special  mail  messenger  who 
has  been  assigned  to  this  work  starts  from  Room  113,  City  Hall, 
every  hour  and  on  the  hour;  travels  over  a designated  route 
covering  a distance  each  day  of  about  seven  and  one-half  miles. 
Mail  is  delivered  to  and  collected  from  twelve  regular  stations, 
and  when  necessary  extra  deliveries  are  made  to  other  portions 
of  the  building.  The  quick  and  regular  handling  of  mail  has 
greatly  facilitated  the  work  in  the  bureaus.  Executive  orders, 
approval  of  contract  awards,  requests  for  special  reports,  etc., 
reach  the  proper  individuals  within  a very  short  time,  thereby 
affording  an  early  start  and  stimulating  greater  interest  in  the 
work.  The  bureau  messengers  thus  relieved  have  been  in  posi- 
tion to  assist  in  other  office  activities. 

This  same  principle  of  the  joint  use  of  a messenger  by  differ- 
ent bureaus  can  be  applied  to  the  departments.  The  time  will 
undoubtedly  come  when  a city-wide  messenger  service  will  be 
operated  probably  under  the  office  of  the  mayor,  such  mes- 
sengers using  automobiles.  The  several  routes  reaching  different 
sections  of  the  city  will  give  us  an  exchange  of  material  as 
between  two  remote  points  let  us  say  about  every  two  hours. 
If  the  taxpayers  knew  the  total  cost  of  having  both  high  and 
low-priced  officials  spending  a large  percentage  of  their  time 
coming  to  the  City  Hall  frequently,  and  frequently  for  no  other 
purpose  than  to  “bring  something”,  there  would  be  more  agita- 
tion for  reorganization  of  this  part  of  our  work.  At  the  present 


49 


time  it  does  not  pay  any  one  department  to  maintain  this  sort 
of  city-wide  messenger  service,  but  it  would  be  very  profitable 
if  it  could  be  carried  on  so  it  would  answer  the  purposes  of  all 
the  different  departments.  The  way  in  which  our  appropria- 
tions are  made  seem  to  prevent  this  economy  at  the  present  time. 

An  illuminating  illustration  of  the  difference  between  former 
business  methods  and  those  now  in  vogue  would  be  provided  by 
photographs  of  payrolls  used  as  late  as  November,  1911,  in  the 
Bureau  of  Highways.  These  payrolls  were  large,  ledger-bound 
books  with  the  payrolls  both  ruled  by  hand  and  written  in 
long-hand.  It  was  not  humanly  possible  for-  records  kept  in 
this  way  to  be  kept  correctly.  There  were  necessarily  grave 
irregularities.  At  the  present  time  we  are  using  a uniform  pay- 
roll sheet  which  is  prepared  by  means  of  the  addressograph  and 
the  whole  procedure  compares  favorably  with  the  best  found 
in  private  undertakings.  All  the  pay  work  has  been  centralized 
in  one  division  of  the  director’s  office.  Ultimately  this  work  will 
be  taken  over  by  an  arm  of  the  service  which  will  act  for  all 
departments.  It  would  be  very  desirable  if  all  classes  of  em- 
ployees could  be  paid  weekly  or  at  least  semi-monthly.  If  there 
were  a single  division  having  charge  of  the  payment  of  all  city 
employees  this  could  be  done,  and  at  a very  considerable  saving 
in  the  total  cost.  The  monthly  payday  for  most  city  employees 
is  based  on  assumptions  that  no  longer  obtain. 

An  interesting  example  of  a pickup  is  shown  by  the  reduced 
number  of  openings  of  the  Passyunk  Avenue  bascule  bridge. 
During  the  week  April  6-12,  1913,  it  was  opened  66  times,  and 
in  the  same  week  April  6-11,  1914,  28  times,  a reduction  of 
approximately  58  per  cent.  The  record  for  this  week  is  prac- 
tically that  for  the  year.  This  was  brought  about  by  asking 
the  Atlantic  Refining  Company  to  lower  the  flagstaffs  on  their 
tugboats.  The  difference  in  the  number  of  openings  about 
represents  the  traffic  of  the  Atlantic  Refining  Company’s  fleet, 
when  it  made  the  trip  from  one  part  of  the  plant  below  the 
bridge  to  the  storage  plant  above  the  bridge.  Every  trip  be- 
tween these  points — a distance  of  only  a few  hundred  feet — for- 
merly required  the  opening  of  the  bridge,  simply  because  the 
flagstaffs  were  too  high. 


50 


In  our  report  of  last  year  we  called  attention  to  our  willing- 
ness to  lose  even  good  men  from  the  service  of  the  depart- 
ment if  it  came  about  through  their  receiving  better 
positions  elsewhere.  It  will  be  a real  pleasure  to  give  infor- 
mation about  any  of  our  men  to  prospective  employers — 
either  public  or  private. 

ATTITUDE  TOWARD  CITY  COUNCILS 

Once  again  I want  to  emphasize  the  fact  that  the  Depart- 
ment of  Public  Works  has  not  been  materially  retarded  by  the 
openly  antagonistic  attitude  of  our  city  Councils.  It  is  obviously 
true  that  if  we  could  have  had  the  friendly  support  of  Councils, 
many  additional  matters  of  interest  to  the  taxpayers  and  of 
moment  to  the  city  could  have  been  taken  up.  But  as  it  is,  our 
hands  are  and  have  been  more  than  full  with  undertakings  which 
either  were  not  dependent  on  the  acquiescence  of  the  legislative 
branch  or  for  which  councilmanic  cooperation  was  forthcoming. 
In  view  of  the  tremendous  volume  of  the  best  kind  of  work  accom- 
plished by  our  six  bureaus  during  the  last  three  years  it  would 
be  gratuitous  to  say  that  any  one  had  held  them  back. 

The  real  stumbling  block  in  the  way  of  a proper  coordination 
of  the  administration  and  legislative  functions  lies  in  the  num- 
ber of  councilmen.  In  a board  of  directors  of  nearly  150 
members  even  those  who  want  to  be  useful  would  have  little1 
opportunity  of  being  so.  So  it  is  with  Councils.  The  whole 
body  is  organized  so  that  a very  few  strong-willed  and  corrupt 
men  at  points  of  vantage  arrange  everything.  A bare  half-dozen 
absolutely  dictate  to  twenty  times  their  number.  Our  city 
Councils  are  made  up  to  a very  great  extent  of  men  who  are  so 
obscure  that  they  cannot  be  punished.  No  better  idea  of  the 
councilmanic  attitude  of  mind  and  conduct  can  be  given  than 
that  presented  on  the  opposite  page  under  the  caption  “Aw 
Fergit  It!” 


51 


“AW  FERGIT  IT!” 

The  finance  committee  of  Councils  was  in  session,  the 
potential  leaders  at  the  front,  and  those  who  do  as  they 
are  told  seated  in  less  conspicuous  places.  Among  the 
latter  was  a councilman  who  really  had  the  best  inter- 
ests of  the  city  at  heart. 

He  could  not  understand  why,  if  it  would  save  the 
city  $70,000  annually  to  change  the  gasoline  street  lamps 
to  gas,  it  should  not  be  done.  Then,  too,  making  the 
change  would  give  work  to  hundreds  of  men,  at  present 
unemployed. 

So  he  arose  and  asked  why  this  ordinance  which  was 
slumbering  in  the  .finance  committee  should  not  be  in- 
troduced with  a favorable  recommendation  and  passed. 

There  was  a moment’s  pause  as  he  finished  and  then 
a voice  from  the  front  row  bawled  out,  with  all  the 
emphasis  possible,  “Aw  fergit  it!” 

Another  somewhat  longer  pause — the  well-meaning 
member  takes  his  seat  in  some  discomfiture,  and  the 
finance  committee  proceeds  to  “Fergit  it”. 

Seventy  thousand  dollars  saved  each  and  every  year 
is  nothing  to  them.  Work  at  once  and  all  through  the 
winter  is  nothing  to  them.  Better  light  and  more  of  it 
on  many  highways  is  nothing  to  them.  Four  hundred 
thousand  dollars  added  to  the  value  of  the  city’s  gas- 
works without  expense  to  the  city  is  nothing  to  them. 

“AW  FERGIT  IT!” 


52 


It  can  be  positively  stated  that  the  occasion  here  described 
is  the  only  time  during  the  entire  year  when  a matter  arranged 
for  by  the  department  and  guaranteeing  in  the  first  place  a 
saving  of  over  $70,000  a year  to  the  city  was  even  discussed. 
One  of  the  mottoes  of  our  department  is  “We  care”,  and  we  are 
not  willing  to  forget  a single  thing  which  promises  to  save  a 
penny  of  the  taxpayers'"  money  or  gives  the  humblest  citizen 
better  service  in  any  respect. 

The  Department  of  Public  Works  has  for  three  years  past 
been  trying  to  erase  from  its  records  and  remove  from  its 
methods  the  “Aw  Fergit  It!”  type  of  municipal  administration. 
It  is  only  because  we  have  morning,  noon  and  night  worked  and 
struggled  for  something  better  that  we  can  defy  anybody  to  find 
a single  letter  in  our  files  similar  to  the  one  published  on  the 
opposite  page  under  the  headline  “Lest  We  Forget!”  It  is  only 
because  there  are  hundreds  of  men  in  the  department  actuated 
by  a lofty  ideal  and  the  single  purpose  to  serve  the  city  that  we 
can  announce  the  expenditure  in  the  last  three  years  of  $34,- 
265,000  and  in  the  same  breath  defy  anyone  to  point  to  one 
single  dollar  of  graft! 

During  the  year  a number  of  different  ordinances  have  been 
sent  to  Councils  providing  an  improved  procedure  in  such  mat- 
ters as  curb  markets,  curbs  and  pavements,  opening  the  streets, 
and  others.  These  ordinances  have  not  even  been  discussed  by 
our  legislators.  No  great  business  like  the  city  of  Philadelphia 
can  continue  to  be  carried  on  successfully  under  such  legislative 
guidance. 

In  this  connection  it  is  profitable  to  recall  the  counsel  given 
by  Benjamin  Jowett,  Master  of  Balliol  College: 

Don’t  let  us  complain  of  things  or  persons,  or  of  the  nineteenth 
century,  or  of  the  indifference  of  the  country  occupied  in  making 
money,  but  simply  say  to  ourselves:  “These  are  the  things  and 
persons  through  which  and  with  which  we  have  to  work,  and  by 
influencing  them  or  managing  them  or  forcing  them,  the  end  must 
be  attained  or  not  at  all.” 


53 


LEST  WE  FORGET” 


voC&  QDfftri*  of  the  lirrrlor 

W otfW  City  Hall 


City  Hall 
Philadelphia 


J&uary  26th,  1909. 


Mr.  H.  W.  Hardesty, 

Chief  Clerk,  Bureau  of  City  Property. 

Bear  Jardesty:- 

Mr.  Joseph  R.  C.  McAllister  whom  you  well  know,  has 
asked  me  to  do  a personal  favor  for  him  which  I have  consented  to  do 
with  your  and  the  Chief's  assistance.  He  desires  me  to  pirchase  a 
cheap  4 foot  Oak  roll  top  desk  and  one  Oak  desk  chair,  same  to  he 

delivered  to  City  Hall.  You  can  make  delivery  to  this  office  

charge  Maintenance  City  Hall. 


Joe,  as  you  know  is  a very  good  friend  to  have  and 


he  has  assisted  me  materially  in  your  behalf  a number  of  times  possi- 
bly without  your  knowledge,  I mean  with  regard  to  appropriations 
and  I think  the  favor  he  asks  is  a small  one.  Will  you  be  kind 
enough  to  show  this  letter  to  the  Chief  and  do  what  you  can  and  I 
will  be  glad  to  tell  brother  Joe  who  assisted  me  in  the  premises. 


Yours 


Chief  Clerk. 


P . S.  Snellenburgs  have  the  desk  contract  for  1909. 


Note — This  letter  is  deeply  suggestive  of  the  business  methods  of  the  last  administra- 
tion. The  J.  R.  C.  McAllister,  referred  to  was  a member  of  Common  Council  from  the 
first  ward,  a real  estate  assessor,  salary  $3000,  and  Chairman  of  the  Finance  Committee! 


54 


BUREAU  OF  CITY  PROPERTY 

One  of  the  principal  activities  of  the  Bureau  of  City  Prop- 
erty involves  the  custody  and  care  of  73  small  parks  located  in 
different  sections  of  the  city,  comprising  all  told  857  acres,  of  an 
average  size  of  11%  acres.  During  the  year  very  great  improve- 
ments have  been  made  in  this  particular  branch  of  the  bureau’s 
work.  By  grouping  these  parks  in  such  a way  that  foremen 


and  workmen  could  be  assigned  to  more  than  one  park,  a great 
deal  more  work  has  been  done  than  ever  before  in  the  way  of 
caring  for  the  lawns  and  shrubs,  pruning  trees  and,  in  general, 
order  and  cleanliness.  The  total  expense  is  shown  by  a new 
cost-keeping  system  to  be  $172.51  per  acre. 

The  activities  of  the  local  citizens’  associations  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  these  small  parks  have  been  continued.  A large 
number  of  boy  scouts  have  been  made  tree  wardens.  Through 


55 


exercises  in  the  parks  themselves  and  in  the  public  schools,  an 
effort  has  been  made  to  teach  the  younger  members  of  the  com- 
munity something  as  to  their  responsibility  especially  as  to  the 
ways  in  which  they  can  cooperate  with  the  city  authorities  to 
maintain  these  public  breathing  spaces  in  good  condition. 

In  the  accompanying  illustrations  improvements  brought 
about  by  planting  grass,  trees  and  shrubs  at  the  corner  of  Broad 
and  Arch  streets  and  by  changing  the  cinder  plot  to  a grass 


plot  in  the  City  Hall  Courtyard  are  shown.  Funds  of  the  Bureau 
of  City  Property  should  be  so  appropriated  that  wherever  oppor- 
tunity is  offered  for  doing  work  of  a similar  kind,  the  improve- 
ment can  be  made.  The  improvements  resulting  from  such 
changes  as  these  are  sufficiently  great  compared  with  the  expense 
of  the  undertaking  to  warrant  them  fully. 

Footnote — The  illustration  on  this  page  was  entered  by  Harry  Gehman,  superinten- 
dent, League  Island  Park,  Bureau  of  City  Property. 


“A  cinder-patch  trans/ormed 
into  a yield  o/wavmg green 


Grading  and  plantmgdone 
by  oily  -workmen.  Total 
expense  less  than$2oo. 
Planned  and  executed  as  a 
‘surprise  "Air  the  City  For- 
rester away  on  a vacation . 


A CORNER  IN  OUR. 
CITY  HALL  COURT  YARD 


56 


A number  of  important  steps  have  been  taken  in  the  matter 
of  the  cleaning  and  care  of  City  Hall.  The  economies  resulting 
from  a better  organization  of  the  cleaning  forces  have  been  men- 
tioned before.  This  year  the  sweepers  and  cleaners  have  been 
uniformed.  The  general  level  of  cleanliness  and  orderliness  has 
been  very  much  improved  and  changes  for  the  better  are  con- 
stantly being  made. 

Perhaps  the  most  unfortunate  development  in  the  year  has 
been  the  evident  desire  on  the  part  of  Councils  to  hamper  the 
architectural  work  of  the  bureau  by  taking  away  the  position 
of  city  architect.  Fortunately  we  have  been  able  largely  to 
counteract  this  particular  move  by  the  appointment  to  the 
position  of  architectural  draftsman  of  a very  competent  and 
highly  trained  architect,  Louis  B.  Marie,  who  has  been  detailed 
to  the  post  of  acting  city  architect.  Unfortunately  Councils 
have  not  made  it  possible  for  the  bureau  to  be  active  except  in 
relatively  small  matters  such  as  the  building  of  police  and  fire 
stations,  comfort  stations  in  the  small  parks  and  a miscellaneous 
line  of  improvements  and  repairs  to  buildings  and  grounds.  All 
this  work  has  been  done  with  satisfaction  to  those  principally 
interested  and  most  of  it  at  marked  economies  from  prices 
formerly  paid.  Attention  is  especially  called  to  the  illustra- 
tion on  another  page  regarding  comfort  stations — one,  built 
under  Mr.  Marie’s  supervision  at  Torresdale  Square  at  a cost 
of  $2850,  certainly  compares  favorably  with  one  built  at  Fair- 
hill  Park  under  the  last  administration  for  $7500. 

It  is  exceedingly  embarrassing  to  me  to  have  to  report  that 
Philip  H.  Johnson  is  still  architect  in  fact  to  the  city  of  Phila- 
delphia. No  well-advised  city  official  familiar  with  the  work  he 
has  done  and  is  doing  for  the  municipality  would  be  a party  to 
giving  him  further  orders.  But,  unfortunately,  when  monies  are 
appropriated  for  architectural  work  the  effort  is  invariably 
made  by  Councils  to  see  that  this  particular  man  gets  the 
work.  Through  recourse  to  all  sorts  of  hooks  and  crooks  they 
have  thus  far  accomplished  their  purpose.  If  Philadelphia  con- 
tinues to  spend  as  much  for  architecture  as  she  has  during  the 
past  few  years,  and  if  her  buildings  are  planned  by  those  who 
are  competent,  it  would  not  take  many  years  to  put  the  city  in 


57 


built  in  l9o9 

Wooden.  Inartistic,  (insanitary 
and  expensive  to  maintain. 
Cost  SlOOO.oo 
Location. Connell  Square 
S3  &l  Elmwood  Avenue 


Built  in  ]9l! 
brick  and 
Expensive  . 
Cost  $7500.oa 
Location 
Fairhil!  Square. 
4^  & Lehigji 
Avenue . 


built  in  1914, 

Stone  -Artistic-Inexpensive 
Cost  $2850.oo 
Location. Torresdale  Square 
Torresdale  Ave.<^  Gottman  Street. 


Comfort  Stations 

A little  stud/  in  the  City 
Architects  office  has  made 
a big  cut  in  the  cost  of 
these  buildings  . 


Footnote — The  illustration  on  this  page  was  entered  in  the  Prize  Competition  by 
J.  S.  Riehl,  superintendent  of  square,  Bureau  of  City  Property. 


58 


the  foreground  among  American  municipalities  distinguished  for 
the  architecture  of  its  public  buildings.  There  is  absolutely  no 
chance  of  accomplishing  such  a result,  however,  if  Philip  H. 
Johnson  is  to  be  continued  as  architect. 

A distinct  step  forward  in  the  matter  of  public  music  may  be 
noted.  Both  the  Philadelphia  Band  playing  on  the  plaza  of  the 
City  Hall  and  the  itinerant  Municipal  Band  playing  in  small 
parks  in  different  sections  of  the  city  have  shown  improvement. 
In  connection  with  the  plaza  band  concerts  public  singing  was 
introduced  as  a new  feature.  Every  Tuesday  night  throughout 
the  summer  specially  printed  programs  were  provided  giving  the 
words  of  four  popular  songs.  The  following  are  types  of  these 
programs: 

Auld  Lang  Syne 
Old  Kentucky  Home 
Old  Oaken  Bucket 
America 

’Way  Down  on  the  Suwannee  River 
Columbia,  the  Gem  of  the  Ocean 
Sweet  and  Low 

Tramp,  Tramp,  Tramp,  the  Boys  are  Marching 

How  Firm  a Foundation  " 

Abide  with  Me 
Onward!  Christian  Soldiers 
Nearer,  My  God,  to  Thee 

Star  Spangled  Banner 
God  Save  the  King 
Watch  on  the  Rhine 
March  of  the  Men  of  Harlech 
My  Country,  ’Tis  of  Thee 

Commenting  on  this  public  singing  and  very  effectively  giving 
the  spirit  of  these  great  gatherings,  the  “Spectator”,  writing  in 
the  Outlook  for  September  16,  had  this  to  say: 


59 


Is  not  this  heartening  amelioration  of  the  kind  of  music  that  goes 
hand  in  hand  with  the  “movies”  merely  a part  of  the  general  move- 
ment for  better  “popular”  music  in  this  country,  recognized  in  the 
programs  selected  by  bandmasters  and  applauded  to  the  echo  by 
their  summer  audiences.  For  one  concrete  instance  out  of  many 
that  might  be  cited,  it  did  the  Spectator’s  heart  good  to  hear 
the  people  in  their  regular  Tuesday  evening  “sing”  with  the  band  of 
forty  pieces,  on  the  City.  Hall  Plaza  in  Philadelphia.  At  the  foot  of 
the  great  548-foot  tower  the  people  gathered,  and  the  shadowy  figure 
of  Father  Penn,  with  the  tiara  of  lights  at  his  feet  and  the  mellow 
effulgence  of  the  great  clock,  seemed  to  bless  the  singing  as  it  upsoared 
to  him  from  the  very  soul  of  the  metropolis  that  has  grown  from  the 
“faire  greene  country  town”  he  planted.  The  concert  began  with 
Wagner’s  “Rienzi”  overture  and  Sibelius’s  “Valse  Triste”  from 
the  band,  with  a gay,  harmless  little  jig  tune  by  way  of  encore.  The 
director  of  the  singing  had  the  voice  of  a very  pleasant  and  friendly 
bull  of  Bashan  and  the  unquenchable  vitality  of  a Billy  Sunday.  He 
discovered  that  those  who  couldn’t  sing  could  at  least  swell  the  tidal 
wave  of  sound  by  “roaring  like  thunder,”  as  the  rule  book  of  the 
Tyringham  Shakers  used  to  prescribe.  Whether  the  song  was  ‘ ‘Old 
Black  Joe”  or  “Annie  Laurie”  or  “Lead  Kindly  Light”  or  “The 
Blue  Bells  of  Scotland,”  he  galvanized  the  most  diffident  into  sur- 
prising themselves.  ‘ ‘Now,  let’s  have  that  verse  again — and  let’s  try 
what  it’ll  sound  like  if  the  ladies  sing  and  the  men  whistle.”  It  is 
strange  that  even  with  a trifling  discrepancy  in  time  between  the 
whistling  obligato  and  the  soprano  unison, -there  was  an  ethereal 
sweetness  of  sound.  Birds  of  the  woodland  know  nothing  of  the 
metronome,  yet  when  thrushes  warble  their  ‘ ‘native  wood-notes  wild” 
who  complains  of  the  ensemble.  There  are  places  where  the  as- 
perities of  professional  criticism  were  better  withheld. 

During  the  latter  part  of  the  summer  approximately  6000 
people  took  part,  each  evening,  in  this  singing. 

In  connection  with  some  of  the  concerts  given  by  the 
Municipal  Band  dancing  was  permitted.  An  effort  was  made 
to  have  some  of  these  concerts  given  at  places  where  the  street 
and  sidewalk  paving  was  of  the  kind  that  would  be  suitable 
for  dancing.  Both  the  singing  and  dancing  were  very  popular 
and  are  likely  to  be  continued. 

The  market  situation  still  leaves  much  to  be  desired.  The 
municipality  is  only  operating  two  relatively  small  markets — 
one  built  129  years  ago,  and  the  other  having  had  a career  of 
169  years,  for  the  most  part  honorable.  In  view  of  the  millions 


which  are  being  spent,  especially  in  continental  cities,  for  mod- 
ern buildings  devoted  to  wholesale  and  retail  marketing,  the 
present  generation  in  this  city  can  hardly  claim  much  credit. 
During  the  year  there  was  an  increase  in  both  vendors’  licenses 
and  market  rentals. 

Through  studies  made  by  the  department  in  the  last  two  or 
three  years  it  is  quite  apparent  that  even  a modest  program  of 
financial  encouragement,  not  necessarily  involving  any  building 
on  the  part  of  the  city,  would  yield  big  results  in  the  way  of 
reduction  in  the  cost  of  living.  The  several  eastern  Pennsyl- 
vania trolley  lines  centering  in  Philadelphia  tap  primarily  seven 
neighboring  counties,  Montgomery,  Bucks,  Lehigh,  Berks,  Lan- 
caster, Chester  and  Delaware.  These  counties  contain  the 
largest  number  of  the  most  productive  farms  and  of  the  most 
valuable  farms  in  the  state.  Statistics  of  the  United  States 
Department  of  Agriculture  show  that  the  annual  production  of 
these  seven  counties  of  dairy  products,  poultry  and  orchard 
products  alone  amounts  to  more  than  twenty-six  millions  of 
dollars. 

Of  this  tremendous  amount  of  produce  grown  within  a radius 
of  a few  miles  there  is  consumed  within  the  city  of  Philadelphia 
only  a very  small  percentage.  The  extended  use  by  the  pro- 
ducer of  the  trolley  freight  facilities  as  they  exist  would  turn 
large  quantities  of  these  foodstuffs  to  the  Philadelphia  markets 
which  now  find  their  way  to  New  York  and  other  cities  or  else 
is  not  marketed  at  all.  It  is  possible  at  the  present  time  to 
start  freight  cars  at  Allentown,  Doylestown,  Pottstown  and 
West  Chester  which  can  gather  up  freight  all  along  the  routes 
and  within  a comparatively  short  space  of  time  deliver  it  at 
one  of  the  trolley  freight  depots  in  the  city — namely,  German- 
town Avenue,  11th  and  Colona  Streets,  16th  and  Huntingdon 
Streets  or  Front  and  Market  Streets.  The  rates  charged  for 
this  service  are  as  low  as  the  steam  roads  charge  and  generally 
speaking  much  less  hauling  is  required  at  both  ends.  With  the 
increase  in  this  freight  traffic  the  trolley  companies  will  give 
even  better  service,  as  is  evidenced  by  the  plans  under  way  for 
the  trolley  freight  siding  and  depot  at  the  Ridge  Avenue 
Farmers’  Market. 


61 


Neither  the  business  of  the  local  markets  nor  the  trolley  light 
freight  service  will  materially  increase  except  as  the  interest 
of  the  nearby  farmer  is  aroused  by  publicity  on  the  part  of  the 
city  and  through  education  afforded  by  State  College  and  other 
agencies.  In  other  words,  the  work  of  the  markets,  trolley 
lines  and  farmers  must  go  along  hand  in  hand  and  must  be  con- 
tinually followed  up.  Any  break  will  be  so  discouraging  as  to 
practically  make  the  problem  hopeless  for  years  to  come.  If, 
through  some  effort  of  this  kind,  the  farmers  are  encouraged  to 
plant  their  farms  so  as  to  supply  this  market,  and  then,  should 
either  transportation  facilities  be  withdrawn  or  the  farmers  be 
given  no  opportunity  to  display  their  products,  resentment  will 
follow  that  will  practically  make  impossible  further  work  of 
this  kind  for  years  to  come. 

Further  improvements  have  been  made  in  the  handling  of 
the  city's  property,  especially  that  not  being  occupied  for 
strictly  municipal  purposes.  Rents  all  along  the  line  have 
shown  increases.  One  property  was  placed  under  rent  where 
the  tenant  had  been  in  occupancy  for  ten  years  at  no  rental. 
The  records  as  to  the  ownership  of  city  property  are  not  satis- 
factory but  are  constantly  showing  improvement. 

The  work  on  Independence  Hall  and  especially  the  surround- 
ing grounds  is  going  forward  satisfactorily.  When  the  wall 
surrounding  Independence  Square  has  been  completed  and  the 
walks  laid  out  as  they  were  at  the  time  of  the  birth  of  the 
republic  and  the  proposed  planting  fully  executed,  this  building 
with  its  setting  will  undoubtedly  be  one  of  the  finest  archi- 
tectural treasures  of  the  country;  and  this  entirely  apart  from 
its  historic  interest. 

During  the  year  two  events  which  have  added  to  its  already 
voluminous  history  have  taken  place  in  Independence  Hall. 
The  first  was  the  funeral  of  George  Poinsett  and  Charles  Allen 
Smith,  two  Philadelphia  boys  who  were  killed  in  the  landing  at 
Vera  Cruz,  and  second,  the  National  Fourth  of  July  Celebration 
where  the  oration  was  made  by  the  President  of  the  United 
States. 

Fire  drills  have  been  made  a regular  part  of  the  regime  of 
operating  Independence  Hall.  These  drills  include  the  removal 


62 


of  the  Liberty  Bell  from  the  building.  Through  these  drills  and 
the  introduction  of  a modern  sprinkler  system  and  a thorough- 
going cleaning  carried  on  from  the  basement  to  the  attic, 
the  fire  risk  has  been  materially  reduced.  The  building  at  Fifth 
and  Chestnut  Streets  still  remains  a menace.  The  plans  for  its 
renovation  are  in  a fair  way  to  be  completed  and  we  are  hoping 
that  a small  appropriation  necessary  to  complete  this  work  will 
be  forthcoming  in  the  near  future. 

Formerly  a fifth  ward  politician  was  allowed  to  sell  souvenirs, 
badges,  trinkets,  etc.,  at  Independence  Hall.  This  was  stopped. 
During  the  year  a very  satisfactory  catalogue  of  the  pictures 
and  other  art  treasures  in  the  building  has  been  published,  also 
an  artistic  set  of  post-cards  printed.  This  work  has  been 
planned  and  executed  by  the  bureau  officials  in  consultation 
with  such  organizations  as  the  Society  of  Colonial  Dames  and 
Daughters  of  the  Revolution.  The  proceeds  of  all  sales  are 
used  for  public  purposes. 

The  inventory  of  the  property  of  this  bureau  has  been  com- 
pleted. In  fact,  an  inventory  of  the  property  of  the  entire 
department,  which  compares  with  those  maintained  by  private 
establishments,  has  been  made  for  the  first  time  in  its  history. 
This  making  of  these  inventories  represents  the  new  school  in 
city  administration  and  is  only  opposed  by  those  who  still  stand 
for  “Aw  Fergit  It!”  municipal  type  of  administration,  suggested 
by  the  story  printed  on  page  51. 

BUREAU  OF  GAS 

Especial  attention  is  called  to  the  report  of  Judson  C.  Dicker- 
man,  Chief  of  Bureau  of  Gas.  In  many  respects  this  is  a 
municipal  document  of  unusual  value.  This  report  is  especially 
notable  in  view  of  the  fact  that  the  previous  reports  of  this 
bureau  were  largely  quotations  from  the  lease  of  the  Phila- 
delphia Gas  Works  and  records  of  tests  of  the  candle-power  and 
heating  value  of  the  gas,  which  latter  were  absolutely  without 
value  of  any  kind,  scientific,  legal  or  otherwise. 

Philadelphia  owns  its  gas  works.  Not  since  they  were  turned 
over  to  the  United  Gas  Improvement  Company,  or  in  fact  at 


63 


any  time  in  recent  years,  has  the  city  had  the  benefit  of  an 
opinion  as  to  the  value  of  these  works  and  their  earning  capacity 
such  as  is  presented  in  Chief  Dickerman’s  discussion  of  this 
problem.  Every  citizen  should  get  a copy  of  this  report,  if 
only  to  read  his  discussion  of  the  lease  to  the  United  Gas  Im- 
provement Company  and  as  to  the  steps  which  should  be  taken 
in  order  to  decide  intelligently  what  shall  be  done  with  the  gas 
works  at  the  termination  of  the  present  lease. 

The  leasing  of  the  gas  works  in  1897  was  gone  into  with  a 
minimum  of  reliable  information  in  the  hands  of  the  citizens. 
When  the  decision  to  continue  the  lease  ten  years  later  was 
made  the  same  conditions  prevailed.  On  neither  occasion  did 
the  city  have  the  benefit  of  any  reliable  information.  If  Chief 
Dickerman’s  advice  is  followed  in  future  determinations  of  this 
important  question,  the  city  will  be  able  to  act,  not  on  the 
opinions  and  judgment  of  friends  of  the  United  Gas  Improve- 
ment Company,  but  on  data  secured  by,  and  advice  of,  officials 
appointed  to  represent  the  city  and  safeguard  its  interests. 

Emphasis  should  be  placed  on  the  recommendation  of  making 
inquiry  now  into  the  manufacturing  and  other  features  of  the 
management  of  the  Philadelphia  Gas  Works  while  conditions 
are  normal.  The  lease  has  now  twelve  years  to  run  and  the 
lessees  are  making  their  best  efforts  to  give  good  service  and 
to  increase  the  total  volume  of  business.  As  Chief  Dickerman 
points  out,  it  is  asking  to  much  of  humans  and  especially  per- 
haps of  those  in  the  utility  business  to  expect  that  they  will  pay 
the  same  assiduous  attention  to  details  right  up  to  the  end  of 
the  lease  and  particularly  if  they  are  not  sure  that  they  are 
going  to  be  allowed  to  operate  the  plant  during  another  term. 
It  is  almost  impossible  to  imagine  that  the  United  Gas  Improve- 
ment Company  will  be  especially  interested  during  the  last  two 
or  three  years — even  five  years — of  the  lease  in  making  those 
improvements  provided  for  in  the'  lease,  which  call  for  main- 
taining the  plant  in  first-class  condition.  It  is  also  possible 
that  in  such  matters  as  pressure,  heating  value  and  other  factors 
affecting  the  service,  slumps  might  almost  unconsciously  take 
place.  Hence  it  is  of  vital  importance  that  standards  as  to 
every  condition  that  control  the  operations  of  this  property 


64 


should  now  be  determined,  in  order  that  we  may  render  assist- 
ance to  the  officers  of  the  United  Gas  Improvement  Company 
in  maintaining  the  present  level  of  service  right  up  to  the  end 
of  the  lease.  That  we  should  continue  the  procedure  followed 
in  the  past  is  unthinkable. 

This  report  is  also  an  unusual  document  in  its  treatment  of 
the  matter  of  electric  rates.  Chief  Dickerman  volunteered  to 
assist  in  the  preparation  of  the  case  against  the  Philadelphia 
Electric  Company  before  the  Public  Service  Commission  and 
prepared  that  part  of  the  case  which  had  to  do  with  a compari- 
son between  the  several  local  rates  and  with  a comparison  of 
our  local  rates  with  those  paid  in  other  cities.  This  study  con- 
clusively established  that  most,  if  not  all,  of  the  local  rates  are 
discriminatory,  and  over  a large  part  of  the  schedule  they  are 
higher  than  those  paid  in  other  cities  and  that  a large  number 
of  these  rates  are  the  highest  that  are  charged  anywhere.  The 
main  chart  on  which  Chief  Dickerman  has  plotted  curves 
representing  the  Philadelphia  Electric  rate  schedule  will  indict 
the  management  of  this  company  in  the  eyes  of  anyone  who  is 
intelligent  enough  to  read.  Through  years  of  inefficient  man- 
agement, playing  favorites  as  between  customers,  and  follow- 
ing successfully  the  effort  to  pay  exorbitant  returns  on  watered 
stock  there  has  resulted  a rate  schedule  that  can  hardly  be 
defended  at  any  one  single  point.  A financial  history  of  the 
Philadelphia  Electric  Company  written  by  E.  M.  Patterson,  of 
the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  is  published  as  an  appendix  to 
this  report. 

The  schedule  of  rates  run  from  ^ of  a cent  (the  rate  charged 
the  P.  R.  T.  Co.)  to  15  cents,  the  rate  charged,  for  instance, 
for  an  isolated  electric  fan.  In  between  these  rates  are  others 
which  are  almost  entirely  without  reason  and  with  little  or  no 
reference  to  the  actual  cost.  For  instance,  the  newspapers’ 
rate  is  the  lowest  one  given,  except  that  given  to  other  utilities 
companies.  Another  curiously  low  rate  of  2%  cents  is  made  to 
one  company  that  happens  to  use  current  at  a number  of  differ- 
ent points.  On  this  theory,  if  a man  owned  a hundred  houses, 
each  requiring  separate  wiring,  he  would  be  entitled  to  a low 


65 


bulk  rate.  There  is,  of  course,  absolutely  nothing  in  the  use 
of  electric  current  to  warrant  any  such  reduction. 

The  necessity  for  building  up  at  some  point  in  the  city  service, 
preferably,  it  seems  to  me,  in  the  Gas  Bureau,  a small  competent 
engineering  force  capable  of  studying  the  city’s  gas  problem  is 
accentuated  by  the  reductions  constantly  being  made  in  the  cost 
of  manufacturing  electricity.  Unless  means  can  be  found  for 
reducing  the  cost  of  gas  and  especially  if  through  a reorganiza- 
tion of  the  Electric  Company  or  an  order  from  the  Public 
Service  Commission  directing  a material  reduction  in  the  selling 
price  of  electric  current,  considerable  disturbance  in  the  gas 
business  may  be  naturally  expected  within  the  next  few  years. 

Chief  Dickerman  has  pointed  out  some  of  the  reasons  for- 
believing  that  the  selling  price  of  gas  in  this  city  is  too  high. 
Men  in  the  gas  industry  are  authority  for  the  statement  that 
manufacturing  gas  costs  are  too  high  all  over  the  country.  If 
the  value  of  Philadelphia’s  great  asset,  the  gas  works,  is  to  be 
affected  materially  by  the  selling  price  of  electricity  it  is  neces- 
sary that  the  city  have  some  one  on  the  watch  dower  to  safe- 
guard its  interests.  It  must  never  be  forgotten  for  even  a 
minute  that  the  interests  of  the  city  and  of  any  public  utility 
company  are  separate  and  distinct.  They  can  never  be  the 
same.  The  interests  of  the  U.  G.  I.  Company  are  properly  and 
eternally  different  from  those  of  the  City  of  Philadelphia,  and 
the  policy  which  not  only  turned  over  the  management  of  the 
Philadelphia  Gas  Works  to  the  United  Gas  Improvement  Com- 
pany but  stopped  all  public  thinking  on  this  subject  was  as 
wrong  as  any  public  policy  could  be.  Conditions  in  the  gas 
business  growing  out  of  the  present  war  simply  emphasize  the 
necessity  for  some  one  looking  out  for  the  city’s  interest  in 
this  matter.  We  have  been  informed  by  the  printed  advertise- 
ments of  the  Welsbach  Company  that  if  it  had  not  been  for 
their  business  acumen  and  foresightedness  in  having  on  hand 
large  quantities  of  materials  required  for  the  making  of  mantles, 
with  Germany  isolated  it  would  have  been  impossible  to  con- 
tinue the  manufacturing  of  mantles.  In  other  words,  what  was 
perilously  near  an  accident  saved  the  day  for  gas  as  an 
illuminant. 


66 


The  Bullitt  charter  provides  that  the  lighting  of  the  city 
streets  shall  be  conducted  under  the  Department  of  Public 
Works.  The  gas  and  gasoline  contracts  are  now  being  super- 
vised in  this  department.  The  electric  lighting  contract  is  let 
through  the  Department  of  Public  Safety.  During  the  year  a 
board  of  lighting  supervisors  composed  of  the  three  chiefs  of 
the  Bureaus  of  Electricity,  Gas  and  Lighting  was  formed  to 
co-ordinate  all  work  in  this  field.  It  would  undoubtedly  make 
for  more  efficient  management  if  there  could  be  one  lighting 
bureau  having  charge  of  all  the  work  that  is  now  being  done 
and  which,  in  addition,  should  take  up  not  only  a closer  super- 
vision of  the  operation  of  the  lease  of  the  Philadelphia  Gas 
Works  but  general  studies  in  street  lighting.  Both  the  character 
and  number  of  lights  have  come  about  too  largely  as  a matter 
of  accident.  Untess  we  reorganize  this  branch  of  the  service, 
and  very  promptly,  the  city  will  be  put  indefinitely  to  an  undue 
expense. 

An  illustration  of  how  careless  public  utility  officials  become 
when  they  are  not  watched  is  afforded  by  the  Northern  Liberties 
Gas  Company  now  owned  and  controlled  by  the  United  Gas 
Improvement  Company.  This  company  was  chartered  in  1853, 
and  it  was  provided  that  the  city  should  always  have  one-half 
of  the  board  of  directors.  In  the  intervening  years  ‘These 
representatives  of  the  city”  have  been  regularly  appointed  and 
just  as  regularly  their  reports  have  been  published  in  the 
Journals  of  Councils  as  follows: 

APPENDIX  NO.  18  OF  THE  SELECT  COUNCIL 
OFFICE  OF  NORTHERN  LIBERTIES  GAS  COMPANY 

Philadelphia,  January  25,  1915 

Chief  Clerk  of  Select  Council, 

City  of  Philadelphia. 

Dear  Sir:  Enclosed  find  annual  report  of  the  Northern  Liberties 
Gas  Company.  Kindly  acknowledge  receipt  of  same. 

Yours  truly, 

GEORGE  E.  SCHAUT, 

Treasurer. 


67 


OFFICE  OF  NORTHERN  LIBERTIES  GAS  COMPANY 

Philadelphia,  January  25,  1915 

To  the  Select  and  Common  Councils  of  the  City  of  Philadelphia. 

The  Trustees  of  the  Northern  Liberties  Gas  Company  herewith 
present  a statement  of  the  receipts  and  expenditures  during  the  year 
1914,  together  with  the  previous  outlay  of  capital: 

RECEIPTS 

From  sales  of  gas (At  $1.00  M.)  $176  589  53 

From  sundry  sales  and  miscellaneous 

items 63  806  53 

$240  396  06 

EXPENDITURES 

For  works $390  813  95 

For  services 92  181  13 

For  meters 121  404  48 

For  mains : 119  319  34 

For  real  estate 30  447  99 

For  wages,  taxes,  repairs,  etc 97  565  39 

For  coal  on  hand  at  commencement 

and  received  during  the  year 46  852  34 

$898  584  62 

Respectfully  submitted, 

GEORGE  E.  SCHAUT, 

Treasurer. 

It  is  impossible  to  imagine  that  business  men  as  astute  as 
those  who  control  this  property  can  look  upon  such  a statement 
as  that  set  forth  in  any  other  light  than  as  a joke.  If  it  should 
be  answered  as  an  excuse  for  such  carelessness  that  the  city  is 
not  especially  at  interest,  and  if  I were  speaking  for  the  munici- 
pality I would  reply,  “I  am  not  so  sure”. 

That  Councils  are  not  in  favor  of  a larger  measure  of  super- 
vision of  the  utility  companies  is  shown  by  the  cut  made  in  the 
salary  of  the  Chief,  Bureau  of  Gas.  Mr.  Dickerman  passed  a 
stiff  civil  service  examination,  and  by  education  and  experience 
and  conduct  of  the  bureau  is  shown  to  be  well-fitted  for  his 
position.  He  came  to  the  city,  having  been  promised  $5000  a 
year  salary  which  had  been  paid  continuously  to  his  prede- 


68 


cessor  for  15  years.  As  soon  as  it  was  discovered  that  he  was 
really  assiduously  trying  to  look  after  the  city’s  interest  in  both 
gas  and  electric  matters,  Councils  reduced  the  salary  to  $2500, 
at  which  figure  it  has  since  continued.  The  fact  that  through 
private  sources  this  wrong  has  been  righted  does  not  reduce  in 
any  way  the  responsibility  of  the  legislative  branch.  Their 
action  in  this  matter  is  a constant  warning  to  upright  city 
officials  as  to  the  manner  in  which  they  are  liable  to  be  har- 
assed if  even  an  effort  is  made  to  hold  utility  companies  up  to 
a proper  performance.  In  view  of  the  trend  of  most  recent 
legislation  in  other  cities  affecting  public  utility  matters,  the 
attitude  of  our  own  legislative  branch  in  all  such  matters  seems 
particularly  unenlightened  and  venal. 

The  Bureau  of  Gas  now*  makes  tests  of  the  quality  of  the 
gas  at  the  two  testing  stations  provided,  without  any  previous 
notice  to  employees  of  the  gas  company  when  or  by  whom 
these  tests  are  to  be  made.  This  is  distinctly  an  advance  over 
former  practice,  when  the  time  and  place  of  tests  was  arranged 
for  during  the  previous  day  between  the  city  and  company. 

Means  of  checking  the  accuracy  of  meter  readings  by  using 
standards  of  measurement  independent  of  the  equipment  pro- 
vided by  the  gas  company  have  been  provided. 

Specifications  have  been  drawn  and  incorporated  in  the  gaso- 
line contract,  which  unequivocally  bases  the  guarantee  of  the 
candle  power  of  these  lamps  on  the  results  of  actual  tests  of 
lamps  in  service  on  the  streets  so  chosen  as  to  be  representa- 
tive of  all  the  lamps  in  service.  This  is  not  done  anywhere  else 
in  the  United  States. 

An  effort  was  made  to  get  some  reliable  data  on  modern  high 
efficiency  gas  lamps  suitable  for  street  and  park  lighting,  but 
conclusive  results  were  not  obtained  because  of  the  failure  of 
certain  supplies  due  to  the  interference  to  imports  by  the  Euro- 
pean war.  Most  of  these  high  efficiency  lamps  are  of  European 
development  and  manufacture.  Certain  independent  tests  of 
gas  have  been  made  by  using  a calorimeter  in  the  City  Hall. 
Some  work  has  been  done  toward  arranging  for  a more  suitable 
schedule  for  time  of  lighting  and  extinguishing  of  gas  street 
lamps.  This  work  is  not  completed. 


69 


HIGHWAY  BUREAU 

There  were  588  contracts  in  operation  under  the  jurisdiction 
of  the  Bureau  of  Highways  and  Street  Cleaning  during  the  year 
with  a total  value  of  $6,799,333.  Bids  were  received  on  142 
contracts,  aggregating  $698,825,  on  which  no  physical  work  was 
started..  This  makes  a total  of  730  contracts  of  a total  value 
of  $7,498,158,  on  which  physical  work  was  in  progress  or  on 
which  bids  have  been  received.  The  following  is  a tabulation  in 
detail  of  the  amount  and  character  of  contract  work  in  force  or 
on  which  bids  were  received  during  the  year,  with  the  amounts 
thereof : 


Character  of  work 


No.  of  contracts  Amount 


Paving 233 

Paving  (private) 61 

Repaving 56 

Resurfacing  (asphalt) 69 

Resurfacing  (vitrified  block) 6 

Resurfacing  and  surfacing  macadam 87 

Repairing  and  patching  asphalt 1 

Repairing  and  patching  macadam 3 

Curb  and  footway  repairs  (city  to  pay) 2 

Curb  and  footway  repairs  (property  owners  to  pay)  1 

Constructing  curb  on  Twenty-first  Street 1 

Grading 166 

Parkway 4 

League  Island  Park. 1 

Northeast  Boulevard 2 

South  Broad  Street  Boulevard 1 

Sprinkling  streets 3 

Furnishing  teams 7 

Furnishing  and  operating  dredge 1 

Furnishing  and  delivering  oil,  sand,  gravel,  etc 5 

Furnishing  and  delivering  stone 1 

Collection  and  disposal  of  garbage 1 

Cleaning  streets 8 

Disposal  of  waste  and  rubbish 2 

Repairing  and  painting  bridges 8 


$1  278 

240 

179 

650 

340 

309 

344 

000 

95 

100 

705 

690 

250 

000 

5 

350 

9 

546 

1 

000 

639 

204 

5 

890 

490 

000 

802 

481 

194 

733 

25 

000 

52 

000 

2 

531 

27 

800 

3 

290 

288 

588 

1 711 

424 

46 

330 

730 


$7  498  156 


In  addition  to  this  contract  work,  work  of  a value  of  $357,048 
was  done  by  city  forces  in  repairs  to  streets  and  roads,  bridges 
and  sewers,  and  meadowbanks,  bringing  the  total  value  of  work 
under  the  direction  of  this  bureau  for  the  year  1914  up  to 
$7,855,206. 


70 


The  two  largest  contracts  for  construction  work  let  this 
season  were  the  contract  of  $490,000  for  the  construction  of  the 
west  side  of  League  Island  Park,  and  contract  for  $385,000  for 
the  construction  of  the  pavement  on  the  central  driveway  of  the 
N.  E.  Boulevard  from  Broad  Street  to  Second  Street,  and  the 
side  driveways  from  Broad  Street  to  Rhawn  Street. 

A very  important  piece  of  work  from  an  engineering  stand- 
point and  one  that  has  already  attracted  much  attention 
throughout  the  country  and  which  will  probably  have  consider- 
able to  do  with  the  future  developments  in  the  good  roads 
movement,  is  the  Service  Test  Concrete  Road,  which  is  being 
constructed  on  Oxford  Pike  from  Second  Street  Pike  to  the 
Northeast  Boulevard.  This  is  an  important  through  route  and 
will  receive  a great  deal  of  automobile  travel.  It  consists  of 
five  sections  different  in  the  character  of  the  aggregate  used  in 
the  concrete.  Each  of  the  sections  is  subdivided  into  two  sec- 
tions of  1050  and  1200  feet  each  in  length.  The  1200-foot 
lengths  are  divided  into  four  parts  of  300  feet  each;  the  first  of 
which  has  a wearing  surface  of  Tarvia  and  bituminous  expan- 
sion joints;  the  second  a wearing  surface  of  Ugite  with  bitum- 
inous expansion  joints;  the  third  a wearing  surface  of  asphalt 
cut-back  with  bituminous  expansion  joints;  and  the  fourth  a 
wearing  surface  of  Unionite  with  bituminous  expansion  joints. 
The  1050-foot  subsection,  which  has  no  bituminous  wearing  sur- 
face, has  18  bituminous  expansion  joints  and  17  protection 
joints.  The  expansion  joints  are  30  feet  apart  and  do  not  exceed 
% of  an  inch  in  width. 

This  road,  together  with  the  Service  Test  Roadway  on  the 
Byberry  and  Bensalem  Turnpike,  comprising  26  sections  of  dif- 
ferent methods  of  country  road  construction  and  materials,  and 
the  modern  types  of  pavements  that  have  been  constructed  in 
the  last  two  years  throughout  the  city — including  the  fine 
dressed  granite  block  pavements  and  split  granite  block  pave- 
ments laid  on  North  Broad  Street  and  West  Market  Street, 
which  will  stand  the  heaviest  kind  of  traffic  and  at  the  same 
time  are  comparatively  smooth,  making  them  very  desirable 
pavements  for  automobiles — and  the  modern  brick,  wood  block 
and  sheet  asphalt  pavements  that  have  been  laid  in  the  city  are 


71 


all  representative  of  the  very  last  word  in  the  method  of  con- 
struction and  materials  used  in  the  construction  of  pavements, 
and  place  Philadelphia’s  highway  work  on  a basis  comparable 
with  that  of  any  other  city  in  the  country. 

For  the  first  time  a contract  was  let  for  the  year  1914  for 
the  disposal  of  waste  collected  by  the  street  cleaning  contractors. 
This  is  only  preliminary  and  a first  step  toward  the  up-to-date 
and  sanitary  method  of  disposal,  as  the  day  is  rapidly  approach- 
ing when  this  material  cannot  be  placed  on  dumps  and  when 
this  time  does  arrive  it  will  be  necessary  to  have  suitable  plants, 
including  incinerators,  for  the  disposal  of  this  material.  The 
work  being  carried  on  now  is  experimental  and  for  the  purpose 
of  accumulating  data  on  which  to  base  calculations  for  the 
future. 

Emphasis  which  is  more  and  more  being  placed  on  repairing 
streets  and  roads  represents  the  greatest  change  in  policy  which 
has  been  brought  about  in  this  bureau  in  the  last  three  years. 
Our  highways  must  not  only  be  well  built,  but  constantly 
repaired.  Vehicular  traffic  on  our  city  streets  and  country  roads 

Footnote — The  illustration  on  this  page  was  entered  in  the  Prize  Competition  by  Cleve- 
land Dean,  inspector,  Bureau  of  Highways  and  for  it  he  received  third  prize,  Class  A. 


72 


is  increasing  rapidly  both  in  volume  and  weight.  Highway 
engineers  are  solving  the  problem  of  constructing  roads  that 
will  stand  up.  But  no  excellence  of  construction  can  possibly 
meet  present  day  demands  unless  accompanied  by  a proper 
maintenance  system.  To  contract  for  the  laying  of  a high-class 
city  street  or  country  road  and  not  at  the  same  time  make 
ample  provision  that  repairs  shall  be  made  constantly  and  prop- 
erly, is  putting  a burden  on  both  the  taxpayers  and  those  who 
use  these  thoroughfares. 

The  Philadelphia  public  must  demand  that  its  construction 
investment  in  1800  miles  of  streets  and  roads  be  protected  by 
proper  provision  for  maintenance.  Appropriations  must  be  so 


Ailc5  o/  Streets  ad  Roads  M\  of  holes  <i  ruts  have  been  put  in  /irst  class  condition . 


made  as  to  allow  for  a maintenance  corps  under  the  direct 
supervision . of  the  engineering  department,  ready  to  make 
repairs  the  moment  they  become  necessary,  and  with  the  proper 
materials  and  in  the  manner  best  adapted  to  suit  the  conditions. 

The  reorganization  of  the  personnel  of  this  bureau  is  still 
going  on.  We  began  in  the  spring  of  1912  with  one  engineer 
among  1000  employees,  250  of  whom  were  salaried.  Now  we 
have  181  engineers  among  271  salaried  employees.  Naturally 
in  building  up  an  engineering  staff  so  rapidly,  and  especially  in 
view  of  the  fact  that  there  were  in  this  city  at  the  beginning 
of  the  present  administration  relatively  few  men  who  under- 
stood modern  highway  construction,  it  was  impossible  at  the 

Footnote — The  illustration  on  this  page  was  submitted  in  the  Prize  Competition  by 
William  C.  Greany,  engineer  inspector.  Bureau  of  Highways, 


73 


outset  to  fill  every  position  with  full  satisfaction.  A better  and 
better  grade  of  men  are  applying  for  positions  in  this  bureau, 
and  as  vacancies  occur  it  is  quite  apparent  that  the  grade  of 
the  technical  employee  is  improving. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  between  December  4,  1911,  and 
December  31,  1914,  this  bureau  supervised  the  expenditure  of 
$16,511,842.70.  On  this  large  amount  of  work  the  overhead 
charge  was  $800,582,  or  a litle  less  than  5 per  cent.  Judged  by 
engineering  standards  this  is  too  low,  and  in  the  long  run,  if  the 
city  is  actually  to  receive  what  it  pays  for  in  contract  work, 
more  inspection  will  have  to  be  provided. 

In  the  three  years  of  this  administration  242.22  miles  of  all 
classes  of  pavement  have  been  constructed  and  54.83  miles  of 
streets  graded,  making  a total  of  practically  300  miles  of  streets 
improved,  a record  that  has  never  been  anywhere  approached 
in  any  similar  period  in  the  city’s  history. 

The  modern  cost  system  which  has  been  installed  in  the 
Highway  Bureau  and  which  covers  practically  every  important 
part  of  its  work  is  almost  a guarantee  against  such  gross  in- 
efficiency as  characterized  its  work  up  to  the  beginning  of  this 
administration.  It  encourages  constant  improvements  in 
method.  For  instance,  the  bituminous  treatments  given  to 
country  roads  in  1913  cost  7.3  cents  per  square  yard;  in  1914 
the  records  covering  a very  large  expenditure  of  money  shows 
that  this  cost  had  been  reduced  to  5.8  cents  per  square  yard  or 
a reduction  of  1.5  cents  per  yard.  Of  this  reduction,  one  cent 
of  the  saving  was  due  to  a better  analysis  of  the  problem  and 
the  savings  in  the  quantity  and  quality  of  materials.  The  other 
half  cent  was  due  to  increased  efficiency  in  the  labor  item  due 
to  improved  methods  of  making  the  application.  Of  course,  it  is 
hoped  that  the  record  for  the  present  year  will  show  a further 
saving.  Through  the  introduction  of  analytical  cost  methods  it 
has  been  possible  to  stir  up  a spirt  of  friendly  rivalry  between 
the  different  districts  on  the  several  classes  of  work.  The 
thorough-going  competition  which  we  are  now  securing  on  all 
classes  of  contract  work  will  more  and  more  force  on  the  con- 
tractors themselves  such  a detailed  study  of  their  methods. 

In  the  matter  of  our  organization  for  handling  snow  a very 


74 


marked  improvement  has  been  made.  The  1914-1915  winter  was 
open  and  with  a light  snowfall,  and  therefore  there  were  only  two 
or  three  occasions  when  there  was  much  demand  for  organiza- 
tion. At  the  time  of  the  heaviest  fall,  however,  and  within  a 
very  few  hours  after  it  reached  the  two  inches  in  depth  which 
starts  the  work,  4000  men  were  put  on  the  streets.  A very  im- 
portant point  in  this  claim  is  that  practically  all  the  men  are 
regular  employees  either  of  the  city  or  of  contractors  regularly 
employed  by  the  city.  This  naturally  gives  us  a very  much 
higher  quality  of  service  than  is  secured  by  such  arrangement 
as  they  have  in  New  York  where  a very  large  part  of  the  force 
is  itinerant  labor  coming  mostly  from  outside  the  city  and  never 
employed  on  city  work  except  during  a snowstorm.  A “snow 
alarm”  of  the  Bureau  of  Highways  calls  out  90  per  cent,  of  the 
salaried  employees  as  inspectors,  foremen,  etc.,  1200  of  the  street 
repair  forces;  1200  of  the  regular  street  cleaning  forces  and  as 
many  employees  of  contracting  firms  as  may  be  required  to  meet 
the  contingency.  In  the  same  way  the  wagons  used  are  either 
those  owned  by  the  city  and  used  on  repair  work  or  those  reg- 
ularly provided  by  the  street  cleaning  contractors  or  those  hired 
under  special  contract  with  our  regular  contractors. 

The  problem  of  a cleaner  city  and  especially  of  cleaner  streets 
has  received  much  more  attention  than  ever  before.  The  first 
parade  and  inspection  of  the  street  cleaning  forces  occurred  on 
April  18  and  was  followed  by  the  second  annual  “Clean-Up 
Week”,  beginning  April  20.  The  thought  back  of  this  annual 
inspection  of  the  street  cleaners  is  to  cause  the  contractors  to 
put  on  the  street  at  one  time  their  entire  equipment  and  per- 
sonnel in  such  a way  that  it  can  be  studied  and  the  different  dis- 
tricts compared.  Prizes  were  awarded  and  a good  deal  of  the 
best  kind  of  friendly  rivalry  engendered. 

The  factors  which  go  to  make  up  the  efficiency  of  a street- 
cleaning organization  were  reasonably  clear  to  any  intelligent 
person  who  watched  this  parade.  The  awards  made  by  judges 
who  all  came  from  out  of  the  city  were  accepted  by  the  com- 
munity and  by  the  contractors  as  fairly  won. 

Clean  streets  is  only  a relative  term.  There  are  no  standards 
and  under  existing  conditions  there  can  be  none.  The  basic 


Street  Cleaning  Drivers  ^ Helpers 


Street  Gleaning  Forces 


Summer 


Summer 


bric^p  Operators  & Watchmen 


Wet  Weather 


Wet  Weather 


Foremen  of  Street  Cleaning 


Typical 


Winter 


Uni/orms 


76 


condition  which  has  to  be  met  is  as  to  the  amount  of  money  to 
be  spent  on  this  particular  city  activity.  This  primary  decision 
made,  the  problem  then  becomes  one  simply  to  secure  for  each 
dollar  expended  the  largest  possible  return.  Philadelphia  spends 
approximately  $1,600,000  a year  on  this  item.  We  could  easily 
spend  twice  this  amount  on  street  cleaning,  but  apparently 
greater  expenditures  than  we  now  make  are  not  desirable.  The 
effort  must  be  made,  as  it  has  been  during  the  last  few  years,  to 
gradually  bring  up  the  grade  of  the  men  engaged  on  this  work, 
introduce  changes  in  implements  and  machinery  and  more  im- 
portant still,  provide  for  the  men  a higher  grade  of  leadership. 
These  changes,  however,  are  of  the  kind  that  cannot  be  brought 
about  hurriedly.  The  wages  paid  for  this  class  of  service  are 
still  too  low.  Even  for  the  wages  paid  the  individual  output  of 
each  worker  is  too  small.  Anyone  who  uses  the  streets  realizes 
that  these  men,  no  matter  how  willing  they  may  be,  have  not 
been  taught  how  to  spend  their  time  profitably. 

Looked  at  from  another  angle,  street  cleaning  is  very  largely 
a problem  of  educating  the  public.  Our  efforts  must  be  more 
and  more  along  preventive  lines.  We  must  learn  to  keep  those 
things  off  and  out  of  the  streets  which  make  street  cleaning 
necessary.  Here,  again,  we  have  a large  problem  and  one  that 
cannot  be  solved  over  night.  The  full  solution  involves  an 
understanding  of  the  question  on  the  part  of  the  public  which 
will  only  follow  years  of  educational  work.  It  also  includes 
co-operation  on  the  part  of  the  police  of  which  they  cannot  be 
made  immediately  capable.  In  other  words  the  police  share 
the  indifference  of  the  public  in  this  matter.  No  one  is  especially 
to  blame;  but  .we  all,  including  public  officials,  need  education. 

In  any  discussion  of  street  cleaning  methods  attention  should 
be  called  to  the  fact  that  Philadelphia  is  the  only  one  of  the 
twenty-five  largest  cities  of  this  country  that  does  its  street 
cleaning  by  contract.  It  is  essentially  work  that  should  be  done 
by  the  city  itself.  As  long  as  the  Messrs.  Vare — Edwin  and 
William — continue  to  be  dominant  forces  in  our  legislative  halls 
this  abuse  is  likely  to  be  continued. 

For  the  first  time  in  the  history  of  this  work  provision  has 
been  made  in  the  annual  contracts  for  the  regular  cleaning  of 


77 


macadam  roads — an  improvement  that  has  been  much  appre- 
ciated especially  in  the  outlying  districts. 

Chief  Connell  in  his  report  makes  an  interesting  recommenda- 
tion in  regard  to  automobile  and  vehicle  charges.  He  advocates 
the  levying  of  a relatively  small  charge  against  these  vehicles 
and  the  use  of  the  revenue  derived,  directly  on  street  repairs, 
with  the  thought  that  the  one  should  be  made  to  balance  the 
other.  He  suggests  $8  for  a wagon  and  $15  for  an  automobile. 
The  former  would  yield  $32,000  in  revenue  and  the  latter 
$257,340  or  a total  of  $289,340.  This  would  give  us  approxi- 
mately $300,000  for  repair  work,  and  especially  a few  years 
later  when  the  new  type  of  construction  now  being  practised 
will  give  us  a high  grade  of  street,  this  amount  should  go  a long 
way  toward  keeping  our  streets  and  roads  at  all  times  in  good 
repair.  In  Chicago,  in  1914,  nearly  three-quarters  of  a million 
dollars  was  raised  by  taxes  of  this  character. 

Some  changes  should  be  made  in  the  charges  for  building 
permits.  We  now  assess  25  cents  a month,  which  hardly  pays 
for  the  expense  of  collecting  it.  This  should  be  raised  to  possibly 
$5  per  month  for  a space  80  to  100  feet  long  and  9 feet  wide. 
If  this  reasonable  charge  were  made  it  would  add  $40,000  to 
those  funds  which  should  in  turn  be  voted  by  Councils  for  work 
on  the  streets. 

Councils  have  responded  to  public  sentiment  in  favor  of  more 
street  repairs  by  granting  larger  appropriations  for  work  by  the 
city’s  own  forces.  Appropriations  now  available  for  1915  are 
even  more  satisfactory  than  those  for  1914.  The  men  on  this 
kind  of  work  are  becoming  more  expert,  and  for  this  reason  the 
same  number  of  men  are  able  to  cover  more  ground. 

A much  more  rigid  inspection  of  material  is  now  enforced  than 
at  any  former  time.  City  inspectors  are  now  stationed  at  eight 
private  plants  where  bituminous  materials  are  received  and 
inspected.  In  this  connection  the  illustration,  on  the  next  page, 
showing  test  of  asphalt  by  the  “chewing”  method  which  was 
formerly  practiced  is  interesting.  The  contractors,  recognizing 
that  it  is  more  and  more  difficult  to  get  faulty  material  passed, 
are  being  more  careful.  For  instance,  in  1913  it  was  necessary 
to  reject  7.2  per  cent,  of  the  vitrified  bricks,  whereas  in  1914 


ASPHALT 

TESTING 

A speaking  con- 
trast -Typical 
tke  5reat  Charges 
and  Improvements 
brought  about  in 
Highway  bureau. 


THE  NEW  WAY 


THE  OLD  WAY 


Tke  old  \Ay-  A laborer  witkout  any  technical  education  /requently  held  balance  °f  power 
in  determining  y%ncss  of  asphalt  used  on  main  tkorousk/ares . His  judg— • 
ment  as  to  hardness  of  material  etc.  was  determined  by  chewing.  Some- 
times tke  consistency  wa s determined  Joy  sticking  several  pieces  to 
tke  wall  as  skown  above  and  tken  measuring  tke  elongation 


Tke  New  V/ay- Under  tkis  Administration  a s/stem  s ■/'  inspection  kas  been  installed 
wkereloy  all  materials  suck  as  aspkalt,  sand  and  stone  are  tested 
before  mixing  and  by  scienti/ic  methods,  and  instruments,in  order 
to  determine  whether  they  conform,  to  Highway  bureau  *speci/i  - 
cations . 


Footnote — The  illustration  on  this  page  was  entered  in  the  Prize  Competition  by 
Cleveland  Dean,  inspector,  Bureau  of  Highways  and  was  given  first  prize,  Class  B. 


79 


it  was  necessary  to  reject  but  2.7  per  cent.  In  September  the 
new  standard  specifications  were  put  in  force.  One  specification 
combines  twelve  former  ones.  The  radical  changes  in  office 
procedure  and  forms  reported  last  year  have  been  continued. 
Twenty-four  blank  proposal  forms  have  been  superseded  by  two 
small  standard  forms. 

The  work  of  strengthening  banks  in  the  meadow's  in  the 
southern  section  of  the  city,  the  cleaning  of  the  water  courses, 
some  filling  in  at  Cannon  Ball  Farm  and  some  mosquito  work 
has  been  going  quietly  forward,  but  the  appropriations  for  this 
class  of  work  have  not  only  been  small  but  very  irregular,  so  we 
are  not  able  to  report  as  much  progress  as  we  would  like.  The 
conditions  throughout  that  part  of  the  city  subject  to  tidal  flow 
are  very  much  better  than  under  “gang  rule.”  As  stated 
in  the  Highway  Bureau  report,  if  some  co-operation  were  given 
by  Councils  in  the  way  of  even  relatively  small  but  regular 
appropriations  for  mosquito  work,  it  would  only  be  compara- 
tively a few  years  until  the  mosquito  as  a Philadelphia  institu- 
tion would  be  unknown.  When  we  consider  the  great  annoyance 
this  pest  causes,  especially  in  South  and  West  Philadelphia,  it  is 
curious  that  ample  support  for  this  work  cannot  be  secured. 

The  use  of  dynamite  for  fighting  the  mosquito  was  success- 
fully tried.  It  apparently  is  a splendid  device  wherever  you 
have  a large  area  covered  by  a shallow  depth  of  water.  In  one 
location  where  we  had  this  condition,  a hole  20  feet  deep  was 
excavated  by  a single  inexpensive  charge  of  the  explosive  and 
the  entire  area  drained  into  the  hole,  which  was  then  treated 
with  oil. 

Through  a follow-up  system  breaks  in  the  streets  and  side- 
walks, of  which  there  were  27,663  during  the  year,  have  been 
promptly  repaired  so  that  the  time-honored  nuisance  of  so-called 
“permit  ditches”  has  almost  disappeared. 

In  last  year’s  report  I gave  the  result  of  an  examination  by 
three  experts  of  the  work  done  under  the  League  Island  Park 
contract1  executed  by  Senator  Vare,  for  which  he  had  been  paid 
about  $1,500,000.  It  was  charged  in  this  report  among  other 

1A11  the  papers  and  records  bearing  on  this  contract  have  been  deposited  for  safe- 
keeping with  the  Fidelity  Trust  Company. 


80 


things  that  the  specifications  for  work  actually  done  had  been 
wantonly  violated.  Owing  to  the  work  being  under  water  no 
very  critical  examination  of  the  piling  was  attempted  at  that 
time.  The  investigators,  however,  reported  that  so  far  as  they 
went  there  were  indications  that  although  piles  12  inches  in 
diameter  at  the  top  had  been  specified,  few  of  this  size  were 
actually  used.  Since  then  we  have  made  alterations  which  per- 
mitted many  of  these  piles  to  be  drawn.  The  488  piles  first 
removed  measured  as  follows: 


In  other 
cations. 


Diameter  No.  removed 

6%  in 1 

7 in 10 

7%  in.— 7%  in 20 

7%  in. — 8 in : 66 

8%  in.— 8%  in 75 

8%  in. — 9 in .90 

9%  hi. — 9%  in 78 

9%  in. — 10  in 62 

10 % in.— 10%  in 31 

10%  in.— 11  in 31 

11%  in. — 11%  in 15 

113/4  in.— 12  in ' 7 

12%  in. — 12%  in 2 

words,  possibly  two  per  cent,  fairly  met  the  specifi- 


BUREAU  OF  LIGHTING 


When  this  administration  came  into  power,  it  found  this  con- 
dition in  regard  to  the  street  lighting  service  of  the  city: 

1st.  A provision  of  300  new  gas  lamps  per  year  to  provide  for 
the  growth  of  the  city. 

2d.  One  thousand  new  gas  lamps  needed  to  furnish  lighting 
for  this  growth. 

3d.  The  300  new  lamps  for  the  year  1912  all  pre-empted  for 
the  demands  of  the  year  1911.  Result — no  lamps  at  all  available 
for  1912. 

The  deficit  in  street  lighting  service,  beginning  with  the  lease 
of  the  Philadelphia  Gas  Works  in  1897  until  the  year  1912,  had 


81 


been  made  good  by  Councils  in  providing  electric  arc  lamps  in 
numbers  varying  from  500  to  1000  per  year,  thus  enabling  the 
discontinuance  and  relocation  of  several  hundred  gas  lamps  each 
year. 

During  the  year  1911,  946  electric  arc  lamps  had  been  author- 
ized, and  during  this  same  year  only  416  discontinuances  and 
relocations  were  returned  to  the  United  Gas  Improvement 
Company. 

During  the  year  1912  only  383  new  electric  lights  were  author- 
ized, but  in  spite  of  this  smaller  number  of  new  electric  lights,  a 
closer  and  more  careful  canvass  enabled  this  bureau  to  discon- 
tinue and  return  for  relocation  687  gas  lamps.  By  this  increase 
of  discontinuances*  and  relocations  in  1912,  the  bureau  was 
enabled  to  supply  nearly- the  entire  demand  for  gas. lamps  for 
the  year,  enabling  it  to  begin  the  year  1913  with  the  entire  allot- 
ment of  300  new  gas  lamps  for  the  year  available,  and  in  addition 
upward  of  a hundred  lamps  which  could  be  discontinued  and 
relocated.  In  other  words,  the  bureau  was  up  with  its  work  for 
the  year  1912  with  a surplus  of  400  lamps  to  meet  the  demands 
of  1913. 

During  the  year  1913  only  four  new  electric  lights  were  author- 
ized and  the  bureau  would  have  been  unable  to  meet  the  demands 
of  the  growing  city  but  for  the  fact  that  in  that  year  the  United 
Gas  Improvement  Company  at  the  request  of  the  Department  of 
Public  Works,  equipped  the  entire  24,000  gas  lamps,  which  had 
formerly  been  equipped  with  flat  flame  burners  giving  only  22 
candle-power  each,  with  Welsbach  incandescent  mantles,  which 
increased  the  candle-power  to  more  nearly  60,  without  a cent  of 
extra  cost  to  the  city.  This  increase  in  candle-power  enabled  this 
bureau  to  discontinue  and  relocate  689  gas  lamps,  which  in  addi- 
tion to  the  300  new  gas  lamps  provided  for  by  the  lease  of  the 
United  Gas  Improvement  Company,  permitted  the  bureau  to 
provide  the  full  requirement  of  street  lamps  along  the  line  of  gas 
mains  for  the  year,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  only  four  electric 
arc  lights  had  been  authorized. 

During  the  year  1914  no  new  electric  lights  were  authorized 
but  the  bureau  was  able  to  discontinue  and  relocate  583  gas 
lamps  in  consequence  of  the  increased  illuminating  power  fur- 


82 


nished  by  the  Welsbach  incandescent  mantles,  which  added  to 
the  300  new  gas  lamps  for  the  year  again  permitted  the  bureau 
to  provide  sufficient  street  lighting  to  meet  the  demands  of  the 
growth  of  the  city  for  1914.  In  other  words,  for  the  two  years 
1913  and  1914  a growth  of  the  city  covering  20  miles  of  new 
streets  each  year  was  supplied  with  street  lamps,  notwithstand- 
ing that  no  additional  cost  for  electric  lighting  was  incurred  and 
that  the  provision  of  the  United  Gas  Improvement  Company’s 
lease  only  furnished  sufficient  lights  for  seven  miles  of  streets 
annually. 

Gasoline  Lamps 

To  light  the  alleys  and  country  roads,  it  had  been  the  custom 
of  Councils  to  authorize  anywhere  from  200  to  more  than  a 
thousand  gasoline  lamps  yearly.  For  the  year  1911,  999  gasoline 
lamps  had  been  erected  at  a cost  of  $28  for  maintenance  an- 
nually, and  of  $7.50  for  the  new  posts.  During  the  year  1912, 
the  first  year  under  the  present  administration,  904  new  gasoline 
lamps  were  authorized;  during  the  years  1913  and  1914  none. 

In  spite  of  this  omission  on  the  part  of  Councils,  this  bureau 
was  able  during  The  year  1913  to  discontinue  and  relocate  497 
gasoline  lamps,  due  to  removals  of  lamps  lighting  private  prop- 
erty and  to  the  substitution  of  gas  lamps  for  gasoline  lamps 
along  roads  and  streets  in  which  gas  mains  had  been  laid  since 
the  gasoline  lamps  were  erected.  This  feature  of  providing  for 
the  lighting  of  alleys  and  country  roads  has  been  continued 
through  the  year  1914,  450  of  these  gasoline  lamps  having  been 
discontinued  by  the  substitution  of  gas  lamps  and  for  other 
reasons,  and  440  relocated,  thus  providing  for  the  gasoline 
lighting  absolutely  necessary  for  the  years  1913  and  1914,  without 
any  increase  in  appropriation  for  this  form  of  lighting. 

These  figures  are  furnished  without  further  comment  as  an 
illustration  of  the  work  of  the  Bureau  of  Lighting  in  utilizing  the 
waste  lighting  and  the  increased  candle-power  secured  by  the 
equipment  of  the  gas  lamps  with  the  Welsbach  mantles,  to  pro- 
vide for  the  actual  wants  of  the  growing  sections  of  the  city 
without  any  increase  in  cost  to  the  city. 


83 


Gasoline  U0uts ” 

Another  item  of  saving  was  furnished  through  a more  careful 
and  effective  system  of  police  reports  of  the  gasoline  lamp  “outs.” 
A comparison  of  the  fines  imposed  upon  the  lighting  company 
for  the  years  1909,  1910  and  1911  with  the  years  1912,  1913  and 
1914  will  give  a striking  illustration  of  the  effective  system  in 
vogue  at  present: 

Fines  for  1909 $96  43  Fines  for  1912 $508  31 

1910  1913 3386  48 

1911  104  08  1914 1800  00 


Total $200  51  Total $5694  79 

A comparison  of  the  new  gasoline  lamps  ordered  by  Councils 
during  the  preceding  and  present  administrations  is  as  follows: 


During  the  preceding  administration,  4 years,  9 months 4298 

During  the  present  administration,  3 years 904 


The  number  of  electric  lights  and  gasoline  lamps  authorized 
by  Councils  in  1914  and  the  four  preceding  years  is  as  follows: 


Year  Electric  Gasoline 

1910  980  1206 

1911  946  999 

1912  384  904 

1913  4 0 

1914  0 0 


There  were  at  the  close  of  the  year  1914,  exclusive  of  a small 
number  of  incandescent  electric  lamps,  58,219  lights  on  the 
streets  of  Philadelphia  divided  as  follows: 


Gas 24,503 

Gasoline 19,097 

Electric  arc 14,619 


BUREAU  OF  SURVEYS 

In  no  year  in  the  city’s  history  has  the  Survey  Bureau  had 
charge  of  a larger  amount  of  new  work  of  all  kinds  but  espe- 
cially that  brought  about  by  the  removal  of  grade  crossings  and 
other  railroad  development.  The  putting  into  execution  of  the 


84 


South  Philadelphia  grade  crossing  agreement  is  only  one  feature 
in  this  total. 

The  details  leading  up  to  the  electrification  of  the  Chestnut 
Hill  Branch  of  the  P.  R.  R. ; the  development  of  plans  for  a large 
classification  freight  yard  in  the  Overbrook  district;  the  removal 
of  the  surface  tracks  from  Lehigh  Avenue;  the  construction  of 
two  new  openings  under  the  Richmond  Branch  of  the  P.  & R. 
at  Tulip  and  Emerald  Streets,  together  with  the  abolishing  of 
the  grade  crossing  at  Green  Lane,  and  other  minor  undertakings 
have  put  upon  this  bureau  a tremendous  amount  of  work. 

I have  had  special  opportunities  for  studying  during  the 
past  year  the  care  with  which  the  city’s  interests  in  the  nego- 
tiations leading  up  to  such  undertakings  as  these  have  been 
safeguarded  by  the  Survey  Bureau  officials — one  and  all.  It  is 
a great  pleasure  for  me  to  say  without  qualification  that  it  is 
most  fortunate  that  the  city  is  represented  by  one  with  the 
education  and  other  accomplishments  of  Chief  Webster.  No 
one  holding  the  position  could  be  in  possession  of  more  of  the 
facts  essential  to  the  wise  conduct  of  such  negotiations.  He 
combines  a rare  degree  of  firmness  with  such  a generous  regard 
for  the  interests  of  those  with  whom  he  is  negotiating  as  to 
make  him  altogether  an  admirable  representative  of  the  people. 
When  we  see  how  carefully  Philadelphia’s  interests  in  these 
matters  are  safeguarded,  it  becomes  all  the  more  remarkable 
that  in  our  relations  with  other  utility  companies  there  has  been 
up  to  the  present  administration  almost  a total  absence  of 
watchfulness. 

In  connection  with  the  proposal  for  an  Overbrook  classifica- 
tion freight  yard  on  the  line  of  the  P.  R.  R.  a thoroughgoing 
study  of  the  electrification  of  steam  railroads  was  made  by  Mr. 
John  E.  Allen,  of  the  Bureau  of  Surveys.  This  report  was  made 
primarily  for  the  instruction  of  the  department. 

The  Survey  Bureau  still  continues  to  carry  on,  in  connection 
with  parts  of  its  work,  interesting  and  far-reaching  experimenta- 
tion. Among  these  studies  is  one  designed  to  determine  more 
definitely  the  way  in  which  heavy  axle  loads  are  distributed 
over  several  adjacent  beams.  This  is  a question  which  has 
much  to  do  with  the  design  of  bridge  structures  and  about  which 


85 


very  little  is  definitely  known.  The  study  of  the  effect  of  a 
20-ton  axle  load  was  made  a part  of  a bridge  contract  in  which 
this  problem  was  a feature  of  the  design  of  the  structure  itself. 

In  the  annual  report  of  the  Survey  Bureau  data  are  given  of 
tests  carried  on  as  to  the  behavior  of  concrete  sewer  pipe  under 
varying  traffic  conditions  and  different  methods  of  construction 
and  laying. 

This  question  of  research  work  in  connection  with  the  activ- 
ities of  a city  is  one  which  must  be  considered  very  carefully. 
Taking  the  country  as  a whole,  the  cities  have  undertaken, 
relatively  speaking,  no  research  work  up  to  date.  In  view  of 
the  tremendous  opportunity  for  such  work,  and  in  face  of  the 
fact  that  at  our  universities  and  research  institutions  great  for- 
tunes are  being  spent,  the  isolated  pieces  of  work  carried  on  in 
our  municipalities  are  almost  negligible.  My  own  feeling  is 
that  a part  of  the  work  now  done  by  our  cities  could  more 
properly  be  done  elsewhere.  At  the  present  time  our  colleges 
and  research  institutions  are  the  places  for  so-called  “pure 
science”.  The  net  result  of  work  of  this  kind  carried  on  under 
existing  municipal  conditions  is  apt  to  be  too  small  to  warrant 
its  being  undertaken.  The  atmosphere  in  which  the  work  of 
the  average  municipal  laboratory  is  carried  on  is  not  especially 
encouraging  to  those  types  of  work  where  results  may  be  delayed 
or  very  definite  results  perhaps  not  even  assured.  On  the  other 
hand,  there  are  varieties  of  work  which  fall  more  particularly 
in  what  is  now  apt  to  be  called  “applied  science”,  which  can  best 
be  done  by  the  cities  and  in  conection  with  actual  construction 
work.  No  better  example  of  this  kind  of  thing  can  be  cited 
than  the  work  which  Chief  Webster  and  his  associates  Mr. 
Datesman  and  Mr.  Stevenson  have  been  doing  for  some  years 
past  in  the  matter  of  sewage  disposal.  Some  day  there  will  per- 
haps be  instituted  a generously  endowed  foundation  for 
municipal  research  through  which  it  may  be  possible  to  co- 
ordinate efforts  of  this  kind  in  a number  of  different  places.  It 
can  be  said  that  when  this  step  is  taken  a new  day  will  have 
dawned  for  American  municipalities.  Graft,  inefficiency  and 
political  interference  will  disappear  in  proportion  as  we  are  able 


86 


to  establish  definite  scientifio  and  engineering  standards  covering 
different  municipal  activities. 

The  work  of  the  Bureau  of  Surveys  is  really  the  key  to 
municipal  development.  In  some  respects  this  part  of  our  work 
is  further  advanced  than  it  is  in  any  other  city  in  the  country, 
perhaps  in  the  world.  But  we  have  by  no  means  begun  to 
sound  the  possibilities  of  city  planning.  We  are  not  yet  looking 
far  enough  ahead.  At  no  point  in  the  city  organization  are  the 
services  of  well-educated  and  far-sighted  men  more  necessary; 
especially  do  we  need  men  who  are  more  than  engineers — men 
with  vision  to  see  a free  people  advancing  to  industrial  and 
other  living  conditions  immeasurably  better  than  the.  best  we 
know  to-day. 

With  the  exception  of  a very  few  positions,  the  men  in  this 
bureau  are  not  well  enough  paid.  The  whole  salary  schedule 
should  be  revised,  and  upward.  I am  especially  tempted  to  make 
a strong  recommendation  in  this  matter  because  I have  observed 
that  during  the  last  two  or  three  years  no  bureau  in  the  depart- 
ment has  made  greater  efforts  to  improve  conditions  and  methods 
than  have  many  of  the  divisions  of  the  Survey  Bureau.  It  has 
always  been  a personal  theory  of  mine  that  the  way  to  get 
one’s  salary  increased  is  to  study  to  do  better  work  and  to  have 
the  salary  increase  come  as  a by-product.  I trust  that  the  legis- 
lative branch  in  considering  salary  equalization  will  have  the 
services  of  the  men  in  the  Survey  Bureau  especially  in  mind. 

There  is  a great  opportunity  for  improvement  in  the  condi- 
tions surrounding  the  design  and  maintenance  of  sidewalks  and 
curbs  in  Philadelphia.  We  need  a better  design  and  more  par- 
ticularly we  need  greater  uniformity.  A very  careful  study  was 
made  of  all  the  conditions  surrounding  this  important  question 
by  a competent  committee  representing  the  City  Solicitor’s  office, 
the  Bureau  of  Highways  and  Bureau  of  Surveys.  An  ordinance 
covering  their  conclusions  was  introduced  in  Councils  but  unfor- 
tunately has  not  been  considered. 

The  improved  designs  which  have  been  adopted  in  the  Bureau 
of  Surveys  for  the  erection  of  artistic  railway  bridges,  though 
started  several  years  ago,  are  only  now  beginning  to  show  appre- 
ciable results.  A railroad  bridge  crossing  a highway  has  a 


In  rebuildirg  Railroad  bridges  improved  designs  have  been  insist- 
ed \ipon.  V5I7  plate. girder  and  truss  bridges  gave  way  to  concrete. 

Three  Typical  bridges 


88 


psychological  value.  If  inartistic,  constructed  only  for  strength 
and  utility,  it  creates  the  impresion  that  a person  is  entering 
an  industrial  neighborhood  where  manufacturing  interests  have 
been  given  preference  over  all  the  factors  that  represent  the 
culture  and  artistic  taste  of  the  community,  and  as  such  it  seems 
to  act  as  a barrier  against  the  development  alopg  any  other  than 
commercial  lines  of  the  sections  lying  beyond.  Nobody  desires 
to  pass  under  an  open  trellis  of  a truss  bridge,  even  though  on 
the  footway  he  may  be  protected  by  flash  boards  from  annoy- 
ance due  to  dripping  water.  If,  however,  the  bridge  is  con- 
structed along  artistic  lines  with  at  least  as  much  attention  to 
detail  as  would  be  spent  on  a residence  or  office  building — a 
concrete-covered  girder  or  cantilever  arched  bridge  with  its  abut- 
ments ending  in  full  sweeping  curves,  and  passing  trains  at  least 
partially  screened  from  view— it  has  a better  effect  upon  the 
public.  The  artistic  construction  of  bridges  might  reasonably 
be  expected  to  result  in  the  more  rapid  development  of  those 
sections  to  which  access  must  be  had  by  passage  under  the 
bridge.  The  same  is  also  true  where  the  highway  passes  over 
the  railroad. 

This  comment  on  the  matter  of  design  in  railroad  bridges  raises 
a general  question.  In  all  such  undertakings  we  are  undoubt- 
edly spending  entirely  too  little  on  the  aesthetic  features  of  the 
work.  Our  engineers  and  their  assistants  are  employed  prin- 
cipally to  draw  up  plans  and  specifications  to  carry  out  work 
for  purposes  of  utility.  We  put  a premium  on  the  smallest  pos- 
sible “first  cost”,  and  for  structures  which  can  be  kept  in  repair 
at  the  least  expense.  Unfortunately  it  is  easily  conceivable 
that  we  might  have  all  our  construction  work  done  at  an  excep- 
tionally low  first  cost,  and  so  as  to  require  low  maintenance 
charges  and  yet  have  a very  inartistic  city  in  which  to  live. 

Through  the  influence  of  public  school  education,  art  classes 
and  splendid  specimens  of  home  building,  our  people  are  be- 
coming more  and  more  educated  to  the  possibilities  of  artistic, 
fitness  in  all  kinds  of  structures.  I think  it  would  be  a very 
popular  move  if  Councils  should  see  their  way  clear  to  allow  a 
certain  percentage  of  the  appropriations  made  for  certain  classes 
of  construction  contracts  ( i . e.,  those  for  bridges,  boulevards, 


89 


buildings  of  all  kinds,  parks  and  open  places  and  other  such 
undertakings)  to  be  expended  for  professional  advice  as  to  art 
and  pure  design  considerations.  The  public  is  unconsciously 
impressed  by  work  which  has  been  artistically  designed  and 
gives  credit  where  in  the  absence  of  such  a quality  they  just  as 


\Xdiat  a branch  Sewer 
small  streets  of  South 


Street  immediately  next  to  one  shown 
above.  Note  its  cleanjy  condition  due 
to  branch  Sewer  with  Under  Drains . 


unconsciously  censure  it.  Ultimately,  of  course,  we  should  have 
in  the  Bureau  of  Surveys  a division  of  design  which  will  have 
as  its  main  function  everything  that  is  done  by  this  and  per- 
haps other  departments  affecting  the  beauty  of  the  city.  Such 

Footnote — The  illustration  shown  on  this  page  was  entered  in  the  Prize  Competition 
by  Charles  F.  Puff,  Jr.,  surveyor  and  regulator,  Bureau  of  Surveys. 


90 


a division  should  not  have  a large  staff  of  regular  employees. 
Perhaps  its  main  function  will  be  to  organize  its  work  so  as  to 
be  able  to  lay  its  hands  on  the  services  of  those  best  qualified 
to  do  a certain  kind  of  work  at  any  given  time  and  place. 

The  usual  conception  of  the  function  of  the  Art  Jury  is  that 
it  was  intended  to  fill  this  niche.  This  is  absolutely  wrong,  and 
unless  it  is  corrected  will  defeat  the  very  purpose  for  which  the 
Art  Jury  was  created.  The  Art  Jury  is  simply  a critical  divi- 
sion-one to  comment  on  the  work  of  others  and  to  suggest  the 
lines  along  which  changes  may  profitably  be  made.  An  effort 


A BIG  FELLOW 

A section  of  the  Wingohocking  Creek  sewer  17  feet  in  diameter.  Main  sewers  are  one  of 
the  large  necessary  expenses  of  a city.  “Out  of  sight”  is  too  apt  to  mean  “out  of  mind.” 


to  combine  with  this  a function  of  original  design  will  put  a 
burden  on  the  Art  Jury  that  will  make  it  impossible  to  get  the 
best  class  of  jurors  to  serve.  The  functions  of  original  design 
and  of  criticism  must  always  be  kept  distinct  if  the  best  results 
are  to  be  accomplished. 

Attention  is  called  to  Chief  Webster’s  repeated  recommenda- 
tion for  larger  sewer  appropriations  in  order  that  we  may  in  a 
measure  keep  pace  with  the  growth  of  the  city.  The  need  for 
more  sewers  in  South  Philadelphia  is  suggested  by  the  high 


91 


mortality  rates.  Main  sewers  are  as  important  in  the  develop- 
ment of  a city  as  are  traffic  facilities. 

Plans  for  a great  middle  city  traffic  circuit  were  approved  by 
the  Permanent  Committee  on  Comprehensive  Plans.  This 
scheme  provides  for  the  widening  of  Sixteenth  Street,  Locust 
Street,  Eighth  Street  and  Race  Street.  This  project  would  be  a 
relatively  easy  one  to  carry  out  if  the  city  had  the  power  under 


CONCRETE  SEWER  INLET  i 


the  constitution  either  to  make  excess  condemnations  or  to 
assess  benefits  by  zones,  or  both.  As  time  goes  on  and  improve- 
ments of  this  character  become  more  and  more  necessary,  espe- 
cially in  the  closely  built-up  sections  of  the  city,  the  demand 
for  legislation  to  provide  for  both  these  objects  will  become 
more  and  more  pressing.  Legislation  to  put  them  into  effect,  as 
well  as  to  regulate  the  height  of  buildings  according  to  their 
location,  have  been  formulated  and  hopes  are  entertained  that 
they  will  be  passed  at  the  forthcoming  session  in  the  legislature. 

No  part  of  the  Survey  Bureau  has  improved  more  during  the 

lThis  illustration  was  submitted  in  the  Prize  Competition  by  B.  Dudnick,  inspec- 
tor, Bureau  of  Surveys. 


92 


past  few  years  than  the  Registry  Division.  Both  the  present 
registrar  and  his  predecessor  have  brought  to  bear  on  this  work 
good  judgment  and  splendid  enthusiasm.  On  another  page  will 
be  found  an  illustration  of  the  modern  office  equipment  which 
has  been  installed,  which  is  only  typical  of  the  changes  which 
have  been  made.  Access  to  the  records  has  been  made  more 
convenient  for  the  public.  The  plans  and  indexes  are  consulted 
by  an  average  of  nearly  400  people  a day  for  one  purpose  or 
another.  To  the  credit  bureaus  of  department  stores,  for  in- 
stance, we  give  on  some  days  as  high  as  100  reports  as  to  real 
estate  ownership. 

Four  concrete  sewer  inlets,  designed  to  supersede  brick,  were 
constructed  during  the  summer  as  an  experiment.  This  is 
typical  of  quite  a number  of  such  improvements  that  have  been 
introduced  in  the  current  practice  of  the  bridge  and  sewer  divi- 
sions during  the  year.  In  explaining  the  advantages  of  this 
type  of  inlet  over  the  open-mouth  and  grate  inlets,  Mr.  B.  J. 
Dudnick,  an  inspector  in  the  Survey  Bureau,  states  that  they 
present  a better  appearance,  are  more  substantial,  can  be  built 
by  unskilled  workmen,  are  easier  to  clean  and  less  liable  to 
leakage,  are  of  stronger  construction,  less  obstruction  to  traffic, 
are  more  permanent,  require  no  repairs,  allow  a uniform  pave- 
ment and  a continuous  curb. 

The  Photographer’s  Division  is  still  performing  a large 
amount  of  excellent  work.  The  fact  that  the  services  of  Mr. 
Snow  and  his  assistants  are  used  constantly  by  every  depart- 
ment of  the  city  government  is  a splendid  example  of  the  possi- 
bilities of  co-operation.  All  the  departments  under  the  Mayor, 
the  Law  Department,  Board  of  Education  and  at  times  prac- 
tically every  branch  of  the  municipal  service  make  demands 
upon  this  branch.  The  genial  way  in  which  these  sometimes 
burdensome  requests  are  met  and  the  low  cost  at  which  the 
work  is  done  is  a source  of  gratification  to  the  department.  If 
we  could  have  in  every  department  a division  that  served  every 
other  department  from  day  to  day  it  would  tend  to  build  up 
esprit  de  corps;  it  would  have  a good  effect  in  reducing  the  cost 
of  government  and  bring  on  the  day  of  functional  management, 
without  which  no  real  efficiency  is  possible. 


93 


BUREAU  OF  WATER 

The  record  made  by  the  Bureau  of  Water  for  1914  once  again 
affords  what  should  be  convincing  proof  that  Philadelphia  water 
just  as  it  comes  from  the  faucet  is  as  safe  drinking  water  as 
there  is  in  the  world.  Taking  the  city  as  a whole,  there  were 
only  eight  deaths  due  to  typhoid  fever  in  one  hundred  thousand 
population,  which  is  perhaps  as  good  a record. as  has  ever  been 
made  anywhere  with  a like  population. 

A careful  inquiry  has  been  made  in  different  sections  of  the 
city  and  we  find  that  a large  number  of  our  householders  are 
buying  spring  water,  and  perhaps  an  even  greater  number  are 
making  the  effort  to  boil  all  the  water  which  they  use  for  drink- 
ing purposes.  However  unnecessary  the  boiling  of  water  may 
be,  it  certainly  can  do  no  harm.  It  does  seem,  however,  to  be 
a great  economic  waste  for  any  considerable  number  of  our 
people  to  go  to  the  trouble  of  boiling  water  that  is  as  safe  as  the 
city  water  has  proven  itself  to  be.  The  purchase  of  spring 
water,  however,  is  an  entirely  different  matter,  as  the  analyses 
which  are  regularly  taken  of  spring  water  as  sold  in  Philadelphia 
show  that  on  the  average  it  is  ten  times  higher  in  bacteria  which 
cause  typhoid  than  the  regular  run  of  city  water.  Naturally 
some  of  these  waters  are  better  than  others.  Householders  are 
reminded  that  city  water  is  tested  regularly  through  the  day; 
first,  as  it  leaves  the  river ; second,  as.  it  leaves  the  preliminary 
filters;  third,  as  it  comes  off  the  final  filters;  and  fourth,  as  it 
comes  from  the.  faucets  in  different  sections  of  the  city.  This 
testing  goes  on  day  in  and  day  out  in  a thoroughly  scientific 
manner  and  can  be  depended  upon.  No  matter  how  careful  are 
the  householders  who  use  it  or  the  bottlers  who  deliver  spring 
water,  it  is  not  possible  to  give  spring  water  the  same  depend- 
able oversight.  Philadelphia  householders  who  simply  depend 
upon  the  city  supply  as  it  comes  from  the  spigot  are  much  less 
likely  to  contract  diseases  which  come  from  drinking  water 
than  are  those  who  attempt  through  the  purchase  of  spring 
water  and  otherwise  to  improve  on  it.  Nothing  in  this  should 
be  taken  as  an  indictment  of  the  purity  of  some  varieties  of 
bottled  waters.  All  I am  arguing  is  that  the  time  has  come 


94 


when  the  use  of  Philadelphia’s  own  water — right  from  the  spigot 
—has  become  the  safest  practice  for  the  average  citizen. 

While  our  filtering  processes  are  becoming  more  and  more 
efficient  each  year  in  the  matter  of  removing  the  danger  of 
disease-bearing  germs  in  our  drinking  water,  on  several  occa- 
sions within  the  last  few  years  they  have  not  been  successful 
in  taking  out  the  gaseous  odor  from  the  water.  Apparently  the 

"LITTLE  but-  OH.iWI” 


Tke  t/pkoid  /fever  germ.  It  would  take 
ten  thousand  end  to  end  to  make  an  i nek. 

Tk cy  make  drinking  water  dangerous . 

We  Alter  them  out  so  success/ully  that 
our  water  is  safe  and  palatable  just  as  it 
comes  from  tke  spigot! 

banks  along  the  upper  reaches  of  our  two  rivers,  especially  the 
Schuylkill,  are  becoming  more  and  more  foul  through  the 
emptying  into  them  of  sewage  and  industrial  waste.  Through 
the  activities  of  the  state  Board  of  Health  the  pollution  of  these 
istreams  is  gradually  being  reduced.  The  periodic  recurrence, 
especially  *at  the  time  of  the  first  spring  thaw,  of  this  gaseous 
odor,  however,  is  likely  to  continue  until  such  time  as  steps  can 
be  taken  to  scour  the  banks  of  these  streams. 


95 


The  Safest  Drinking  Water  in  the  World 


Raw  or  un/iltered  river  water 

BEFORE 


Contains  7ooo  bacteria  per  cubic  cent  meter  - 


Filtered  water  supplied  by  tie  City 

AFTER 


Contains  8 bacteria  per  cubic  centimeter- 


Contains  95  Bacteria,  per  cu . centimeter 


Contains  6 Bactenaper  cu.  centimeter 


Why  PayTAore? 


Spring  Water 

a. s 

Sold  m Phlaclelpliia 


Filtered  Water 

QoS 

Supplied  by  tTve  City 


96 


The  revenue  of  the  Water  Bureau  was  increased  during  the 
year  by  $231,571.49,  or  almost  five  per  cent.,  which  represents 
a healthy  growth.  This  increase  is  in  the  face  of  a marked 
decrease  in  the  payments  made  by  those  water  users  who  intro- 
duced water  meters.  The  number  of  meters  in  the  city  has  been 
increased  in  the  last  two  years  from  4000  to  27,500.  Certain 
people  have  expressed  the  opinion  that  because  the  water  rents 
paid  by  those  who  installed  meters  have  been  so  markedly 
reduced  the  wisdom  of  introducing  meters  must  be  open  to 
question.  That  the  city  should  not  go  ahead  with  the  gradual 
introduction  of  water  meters  is  unthinkable.  There  is  no  more 
reason  for  buying  electricity  or  gas  by  meter  than  there  is  for 
buying  water  by  meter.  Most  of  the  people  who  have  put  in 
water  meters  and  have  thereby  secured  reductions  in  their 
bills  were  undoubtedly  paying  too  much  before  they  put  the 
meters  in.  Our  minimum  charges  especially  for  the  smallest 
houses  are  undoubtedly  ail  right.  No  change  should  be  allowed 
in  the  rates  for  small  users.  But  the  rate  per  gallon  should  un- 
doubtedly be  raised.  Discussing  this  question,  Chief  Davis  of 
the  Bureau  of  Water  in  his  reports  states: 

As  a suggestion,  fair  charges  for  Philadelphia  would  be  12  cents  per 
thousand  gallons,  8 cents  per  thousand  gallons  and  4 cents  per 
thousand  gallons  for  domestic,  intermediate  and  manufacturing 
rates  respectively.  Twelve  cents  per  thousand  gallons  should  be 
charged  for  the  first  500,000  gallons  or  any  part  thereof;  8 cents  per 
thousand  gallons  should  be  charged  for  the  second  500,000  gallons 
or  any  part  thereof,  and  4 cents  per  thousand  gallons  should  be 
charged  for  all  consumption  over  one  million  gallons. 

Under  present  fixture  ratings,  the  minimum  charge  is  $5  for  which 
a hydrant  and  sink  are  allowed.  At  the  proposed  rate  of  12  cents  per 
thousand  gallons,  there  would  be  no  probability  of  increasing  the 
charge  for  such  dwellings  if  the  same  were  metered,  provided  there 
was  no  waste  of  water.  Larger  dwellings  with  more  fixtures  at  the 
proposed  domestic  rate  of  12  cents  per  thousand  gallons  would  still 
be  able  to  use  all  the  water  possibly  needed,  provided,  of  course,  there 
was  no  waste,  and  still  pay  less  than  the  charges  under  the  prevailing 
schedule  rates. 

From  the  foregoing  it  will  be  seen  that  the  great  majority  of 
domestic  water  users  have  nothing  to  fear  from  an  equalization 
of  the  rates.  I want  to  repeat  what  I have  said  over  and  over 


97 


again  in  advocating  water  meters  that  if  we  could  have  meters 
installed  in  a majority  of  the  houses  in  Philadelphia,  every- 
body’s water  rent  would  be  less  than  it  has  been  in  the  past. 
I see  no  reason  why  anyone  who  is  progressive  enough  to  help 
to  bring  about  this  change  by  installing  a meter  should  not 
receive  in  lower  water  rents  even  perhaps  a little  more  than 
he  is  entitled  to  in  the  way  of  favorable  rates.  It  is  un- 
fortunate that  Councils  have  not,  before  this,  seen  the  wisdom 
of  establishing  more  equitable  water  rates — which  would  not 
increase  by  a dollar  the  yearly  bill  for  the  small  householder 
and  which  would  make  the  bill  for  the  middle  class  house  less 
than  it  is  on  the  present  fixture  rate  but  somewhat  more  than  it 
is  at  the  present  cubic  foot  basis. 

The  city  should  take  over  the  ownership  of  the  pipes  lying 
between  the  street  main  and  the  house  line.  In  discussing  this 
matter  the  chief  of  the  Bureau  of  Water  says: 

A report  comes  to  the  Water  Bureau  of  a leak  in  the  street,  prob- 
ably endangering  traffic.  The  Water  Bureau  men  proceed  to  the 
spot  and  dig  up  the  street  to  locate  the  leak.  If  it  is  in  the  main  pipe, 
or  the  ferrule  in  the  main,  the  Water  Bureau  men  can  make  repairs 
and  finish  the  job.  If  it  is  in  the  service  pipe  leading  to  a private 
property,  they  cannot  make  the  repairs.  The  householder  is  notified, 
and  if  the  leak  is  such  as  to  cause  damage  or  endanger  property  or 
traffic,  the  water  is  shut  off  at  the  main  thereby  depriving  the  property 
of  water.  The  hole  is  then  filled  up  so  that  traffic  may  not  be  inter- 
rupted. The  property  owner  then  secures  the  services  of  a plumber 
who  proceeds  to  City  Hall  to  take  out  the  necessary  permit,  after 
which  he  returns  to  the  leak  and  re-excavates  the  hole  which  the 
Water  Bureau  has  filled  up.  After  making  repairs,  the  plumber 
notifies  the  Water  Bureau  and  an  employee  is  sent  to  turn  on  the 
water.  The  plumber  then  fills  up  the  hole,  and  the  Highway  Bureau 
subsequently  repairs  the  pavement. 

Some  red  tape,  all  right! 

More  and  more  it  is  going  to  be  against  public  interest  to  have 
private  parties  tear  up  the  streets.  The  price  we  pay  for  poor 
work  both  below  the  street  and  through  the  paving  itself  is 
such  as  makes  a change  in  our  policy  in  this  matter  seem  desir- 
able. During  last  year  2000  permits  were  issued  for  street 
openings  on  account  of  leaks  in  water  service  pipes.  In  each 


98 


instance,  of  course,  and  for  the  reason  given  above,  the  trench 
was  opened  twice. 

Another  step  forward  would  be  to  have  all  house  piping  done 
in  accordance  with  department  regulations.  The  U.  G.  I.  Co. 
insists  that  before  turning  on  gas  into  a house  they  shall  have 
the  privilege  of  specifying  how  the  gas  piping  shall  be  done  and 
even  inspecting  it.  The  proper  type  of  house  piping  for  gas  is 
essential  to  good  service.  The  city  should  just  as  surely  see 
to  it  that  the  piping  installed  for  water  is  properly  done. 

In  many  parts  of  the  city  the  water  pressure  has  been  rad- 
ically improved.  In  some  districts,  such  as  in  West  Phila- 
delphia, this  has  been  due  to  an  increased  supply  produced  very 
largely  by  cutting  out  the  waste.  In  some  of  the  older  districts, 
such  as  Spring  Garden,  an  increased  pressure  has  been  brought 
about  simply  by  a rearrangement  of  the  valves  and  pipe-lines 
themselves. 

Too  much  credit  cannot  be  given  to  the  Water  Bureau  as  a 
whole  and  to  individual  employees  for  the  splendid  work  which 
has  been  done  in  this  matter  of  water  waste.  The  following 
statement  covering  this  matter,  jointly  prepared  by  three  em- 
ployees of  the  Water  Bureau  and  for  which  second  prize  in 
Class  B was  awarded  in  the  Prize  Contest,  gives  a splendid 
picture  of  this  work: 

WATER  WASTE  AND  PITOMETER  SURVEYS 

The  present  systematic  attempt  to  reduce  waste  of  filtered  water  in 
Philadelphia  was  begun  in  April,  1912.  A corp  of  inspectors  has  been 
working  continuously  ever  since  that  date  and  have  found  many 
thousands  of  leaks,  which  probably  would  not  otherwise  have  been 
discovered.  The  result  of  their  work  is  apparent  in  the  reduced 
pumpage. 


99 


The  following  is  a list  of  the  leaks  found  by  this  corps  to  date: 


Leaks 


Buildings  inspected 

1912 

1913 

1914 

Total 

413  332 

234  712 

239  487 

887  531 

Broken  pipes 

9 674 

7 620 

7 542 

24  836 

Leaking  hydrants 

58  474 

2 991 

1 414 

62  879 

Leaking  flush  tanks 

56  757 

30  975 

30  229 

117  961 

Leaking  spigots 

107  953 

14  481 

14  407 

136  841 

Leaking  troughs 

199 

100 

51 

350 

Total 

233  057 

56  167 

53  643 

342  867 

In  August,  1912,  a corps  of  pitometer  operators  was  organized  and 
six  pitometers  and  recorders  were  purchased.  The  object  of  these 
surveys  is  to  show  the  flow  of  water  into  each  block,  thus  locating  any 
leakage. 

In  this  manner  a large  number  of  leaks  under  the  surface  of  the 
street  have  been  discovered  where  the  water  main  was  broken  and  the 
water  was  running  directly  into  the  sewer  and  not  showing  on  the 
surface.  Had  it  not  been  for  this  work  these  leaks  would  continue 
to  run  for  years  without  discovery. 

These  surveys  and  inspections  have  also  been  useful  in  locating  the 
so-called  dual  connections  in  mills  and  factories  where  raw  or  diluted 
water  was  allowed  to  get  into  the  street  mains,  resulting  in  a con- 
siderable decrease  in  the  number  of  cases  of  typhoid  fever. 

The  net  result  of  this  work  is  shown  in  the  gradual  decrease  of  the 
per  capita  consumption  of  water  since  the  work  was  started: 

In  1911  Philadelphia  consumed  202  gallons  per  capita  per  day 

In  1912  Philadelphia  consumed  195  gallons  per  capita  per  day 

In  1913  Philadelphia  consumed  175  gallons  per  capita  per  day 

and  while  the  returns  for  1914  are  not  yet  completed,  indications  are 
that  the  consumption  will  be  approximately  160  gallons  per  capita 
per  day. 

The  size  of  the  city  and  the  number  of  miles  of  water  pipe  are  so 
great  that  the  work  is  necessarily  slow,  but  it  has  been  of  great  value 
in  reducing  the  work  of  the  pumping  stations  and  filter  plants,  which 
were  taxed  beyond  their  proper  capacity. 

Respectfully  submitted, 

GILBERT  FAHY,  Inspector. 
JOHN  A.  YOUNG,  Inspector. 

J.  E.  MAGUIRE,  Clerk. 


100 


In  view  of  the  fact  that  Philadelphia’s  population  is  increas- 
ing at  this  time  quite  as  fast  as  ever  in  its  history,  this  show- 
ing is  particularly  gratifying. 

In  no  part  of  the  department  have  more  improvements  in 
system  been  brought  about  than  in  the  Water  Bureau.  The 
location  of  street  mains,  stop  valves  and  other  features  of  the 
distribution  system  have  been  charted  in  such  a way  as  to  make 
the  information  generally  available.  In  former  days  practically 
all  this  information  was  in  the  heads  of  a relatively  few  men  in 
charge  of  the  different  districts.  We  have  about  arrived  at  the 
point  where  we  find  it  possible  to  move  men  about  from  dis- 
trict to  district  owing  to  the  fact  that  they  can  now  depend 
upon  the  district  offices  and  bureau  records  for  all  such  informa- 
tion as  they  may  require.  As  is  usually  the  case,  information 
recorded  in  this  way  is  much  more  dependable  than  that  which 
is  passed  on  from  one  employee  to  another  by  word  of  mouth. 
Throughout  the  bureau  very  careful  records  have  been  installed 
as  to  stores  and  materials  of  all  kinds  on  hand.  The  latter  are 
purchased,  stored  and  issued  in  accordance  with  the  best  mod- 
ern business  methods. 

The  ‘cost  of  coal  consumed  for  pumpage  this  year  was  mate- 
rially below  the  cost  for  1913  or  any  previous  year,  as  shown  by 
the  table  herewith: 


1910 

1911 

1912 

1913 

1914 

Cost 

$618  381 

$570  480 

$616  601 

$527  802 

$509  145 

Tons 

21-0  263 

201  452 

201  168 

183  686 

179  736 

The  Lardner’s  Point  Pumping  Station  has  apparently  the  best 
record  for  improvement  in  the  matter  of  coal  consumption,  using 
some  60,974  tons  in  1913  and  54,817  in  1914.  They  have  reduced 
the  cost  of  handling  coal  at  that  plant  from  40  cents  a ton  to 
10  cents  a ton  during  the  year. 

During  the  year  a number  of  very  important  betterments  in 
the  plant  of  the  Water  Bureau  have  been  provided.  The  instal- 
lation of  the  new  boilers  at  Queen  Lane  has  been  completed. 


101 


Owing  to  the  type  being  a new  one,  some  difficulty  was  experi- 
enced in  tuning  them  up,  but  after  a rearrangement  of  baffles 
and  making  some  other  minor  adjustments,  the  boilers  were 
submitted  to  a test  wdiich  showed  a very  high  performance. 
The  last  of  the  four  horizontal  pumps  at  this  station  has  been 
rebuilt  during  the  year.  At  Belmont  the  extension  of  the  pre- 
liminary filters  and  additions  to  the  power  plant  have  been 
carried  forward  and  further  extensions  of  the  pipe  lines  in  the 
West  Philadelphia  district  have  been  made.  At  Torresdale  a 
dangerous  chimney  has  been  removed  and  rebuilt  and  plans  for 
a sedimentation  basin  which  will  provide  for  a slow  preliminary 
filtering  designed.  As  the  money  for  this  was  made  available 
at  the  last  election  the  work  can  be  completed  during  the  present 
year. 

The  most  pressing  work  ahead  of  the  bureau  is  the  improve- 
ment of  the  South  Philadelphia  water  supply.  Need  for  this  has 
been  apparent  for  a number  of  years.  A disastrous  fire  in  this 
district  so  emphasized  it  that  the  money  was  forthcoming  at  the 
November  election.  Even  before  the  new  pipe  lines  provided 
for  can  be  put  into  effective  service  enlargements  of  the  supply 
will  become  necessary.  With  the  building  of  the  Torresdale 
sedimentation  basin  this  plant  from  which  South  Philadelphia 
receives  its  supply  undoubtedly  will  be  capable  of  higher  per- 
formance, but  it  does  not  seem  to  be  good  policy  to  stop  here. 
Radical  additions  must  be  made  to  the  Delaware  River  plants 
in  the  near  future. 

A city’s  water  supply  is  of  such  paramount  importance,  and  it 
is  so  difficult  in  view  of  all  the  other  demands  made  upon  the 
resources  of  the  city  to  keep  abreast  with  it,  that  it  is  every- 
where considered  good  policy  to  take  special  steps  periodically 
to  check  up  the  local  view  by  an  investigation  conducted  by 
engineers  from  outside  the  city.  The  Water  Bureau  has  at  the 
present  time  and  has  had,  almost  from  its  inception,  advantage 
of  the  best  kind  of  engineering  advice  both  within  and  without 
the  bureau.  Having  in  view,  however,  the  desirability  of  taking 
the  longest  possible  view  ahead,  we  recommended  to  Councils 
the  appropriation  of  at  least  $15,000  for  the  employment  of  out- 
side experts  to  resurvey  the  field  and  advise  our  legislative 


102 


branch  upon  the  next  steps  that  should  be  taken.  We  are  evi- 
dently at  the  point  where  we  can  intelligently  decide,  for  in- 
stance, as  to  whether  filtration  has  been  a success,  and  if  so, 
the  lines  along  which  future  enlargements  of  our  plant  should 
be  made.  It  is  obvious  that  any  such  study  as  this  should  be 
made  by  those  who  will  not  attempt  to  gloss  over  mistakes, 
whether  of  the  past  or  the  present.  What  we  want  is  the  en- 
gineering truth  so  we  will  know  along  what  lines  the  radical 
enlargements  of  the  immediate  future  must  be  made.  The 
necessity  for  some  extension  is  quite  apparent,  but  there  seems 
to  be  some  difference  of  opinion  as  to  the  lines  along  which  the 
improvements  should  be  made. 

UTILITIES  SITUATION 

The  conference  of  American  mayors  for  the  discussion  of 
public  policies  as  to  municipal  utilities  held  in  this  city,  Novem- 
ber 12-14,  has  constituted  perhaps  the  most  important  activity 
of  this  department  for  the  year.  Credit  for  the  program  and  the 
securing  of  a distinguished  list  of  speakers,  and  even  for  the 
large  and  representative  attendance  which  was  present  from  all 
parts  of  the  country,  belongs  very  largely  to  Dr.  Clyde  L.  King, 
of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  who,  temporarily  holding  a 
position  in  the  department,  conducted  the  preliminaries  leading 
up  to  the  convention.  In  making  a classification  of  those  attend- 
ing this  conference  we  find  there  were  150  different  cities 
represented  as  follows: 


Mayors 63 

Delegates  from  mayors 10 

City  officials 93 

Representatives  of  public  service  commissions 14 

Delegates  from  civic  associations  and  universities 45 

General  from  outside  the  city 67 


292 

This  conference  which  resulted  in  the  formation  of  the  Util- 
ities Bureau  was  largely  suggested  as  a result  of  the  inquiry 
into  the  schedule  of  rates  charged  for  current  by  the  Phila- 
delphia Electric  Company.  This  inquiry  revealed  a condition 


103 


both  as  to  rates  and  service  which  was  and  is  well-nigh  unbeliev- 
able. Notwithstanding  the  grievous  and  unfair  burden  which 
this  company  is  making  the  community  bear  and  the  existence 
of  a state  Public  Service  Commission,  no  adequate  relief  from 
these  abuses  has  been  forthcoming.  In  a pamphlet  entitled 
“Snapping  Cords” — lectures  on  the  changing  attitude  of  munici- 
palities toward  their  public'  corporations — (mentioned  elsewhere 
in  this  report)  these  conditions  have  been  covered  more  or  less 
fully.  At  the  present  time  any  given  city  is  acting  as  an  indi- 
vidual against  the  whole  utility  industry,  whether  it  be  electric, 
gas,  telephone  or  any  other.  In  other  words,  the  companies  of 
the  country  act  in  complete  concert  and  harmony  whereas  the 
cities  act  for  themselves.  The  Utilities  Bureau  is  intended  do 
supply  the  long-felt  want  for  a medium  through  which  all  cities 
in  the  country  can  also  act  in  concert  in  the  discussion  and 
handling  of  utility  questions. 

The  Utilities  Bureau  has  called  a conference  to  discuss  the 
principles  affecting  the  valuation  of  public  utilities  to  be  held 
in  Philadelphia  in  the  fall  of  1915.  Practically  all  the  literature 
as  to  valuations,  especially  those  made  for  rate-making  pur- 
poses, has  been  formulated  by  the  public  utility  companies 
themselves.  The  principles  under  which  this  work  is  now  being 
conducted  before  public  service  commissions  and  elsewhere 
appear  to  be  in  most  respects  fundamentally  wrong.  Through 
widespread  publicity  given  to  methods  at  present  advocated  by 
private  companies  the  public  judgment  as  to  these  matters  has 
been  wholly  vitiated.  In  fact,  in  many  cities  of  the  United 
States  it  is  almost  unwise  to  initiate  a rate  case  unless  the  rates 
are  especially  onerous  because  only  too  frequently  in  raising 
this  question  such  inflated  valuations  are  fixed  by  the  commis- 
sions as  to  saddle  the  community  for  years  to  come  with  the 
choice  between  exorbitant  rates  or  a prohibitive  purchase  price. 
In  some  communities  it  would  be  better  to  keep  on  paying  high 
rates  for  a few  years  pending  the  time  when  the  principles  on 
which  valuations  are  made  will  settle  down  to  a safer  basis 
rather  than  to  allow  the  corporations  to  use  the  hearing  as  to 
rates  as  the  occasion  for  validating  watered  securities. 

The  proceedings  of  the  Mayors’  Conference  constitute  a most 


104 


valuable  contribution  to  the  public  side  of  utility  discussions. 
The  book  was  published  under  the  auspices  of  the  American 
Academy  of  Political  and  Social  Science  and  can  be  obtained 
upon  application  to  Mr.  J.  T.  Lichtenberger,  Secretary,  Logan 
Hall,  University  of  Pennsylvania. 

We  have  made  a number  of  attempts  to  secure  from  Councils 
at  first  the  modest  sum  of  $5000  and  later  $50,000  in  order  to 
adequately  present  the  case  against  the  Philadelphia  Electric 
Company  before  the  Public  Service  Commission.  As  has  been 
pointed  out  in  communications  to  Councils  there  are  hundreds 
of  cases  where  cities,  towns  and  even  hamlets  have  made  large 
appropriations  for  such  purposes.  Four  small  towns  in  Blair 
County,  Western  Pennsylvania,  have  appropriated  over  $10,000 
for  the  presentation  of  a single  water  rate  case.  Not  a penny 
has  been  appropriated  by  Councils  for  the  Philadelphia  Electric 
case.  Through  the  use  of  private  funds  this  case  has  been  pre- 
sented in  spite  of  the  inaction  of  Councils.  From  the  evidence 
adduced  through  the  testimony  of  valuation  and  operating 
experts  at  Harrisburg,  it  can  be  stated  that  the  present  plant  of 
the  Philadelphia  Electric  Company  can  be  replaced  for  less 
than  one-half  of  the  value  of  its  outstanding  securities, 
$50,000,000,  and  that  judged  by  its  cost  the  showing  is  even 
worse. 

We  have  had  prepared  by  E.  M.  Patterson,  Ph.D.,  of  the 
Wharton  School,  University  of  Pennsylvania,  and  are  publishing 
as  an  appendix  to  this  report  a financial  history  of  the  Phila- 
delphia Electric  Company  which  shows  that  at  the  time  of 
its  formation,  about  1900,  it  was  over-capitalized  by  about 
$20,000,000.  In  spite  of  this  enormous  over-capitalization  the 
company  has  been  able  to  maintain  interest  on  its  bonds  and, 
since  1902,  dividends  on  its  stock.  In  1903  this  dividend  was 
at  the  rate  of  five  per  cent,  per  annum  par  value  and  is  now 
at  the  rate  of  seven  per  cent,  per  annum.  These  dividends  and 
interest  payments  have  been  imposing  on  the  people  of  Phila- 
delphia an  unnecessary  annual  burden  of  not  less  than  $800,000, 
and  probably  $1,250,000  a year  in  the  form  of  excessive  rates 
for  electric  current.  The  load  factor  of  this  company  is  perhaps 
one  of  the  lowest  of  any  of  the  companies  operating  in  the 


105 


larger  cities  of  the  country.  It  is  generally  considered  one  of 
the  best  indices  of  the  efficiency  with  which  such  a company 
is  conducted.  There  are  less  than  60,000  users  of  electric  cur- 
rent in  Philadelphia,  whereas  there  are  150,000  in  Chicago  and 
about  70,000  each  in  the  cities  of  Detroit  and  Cleveland. 

In  the  matter  of  the  Welsbach  lights,  Councils  still  refuse  to 
authorize  the  change  of  11,000  gasoline  lights  for  an  equal 
number  of  gas  lamps  at  an  annual  saving  of  $70,000.  In  addi- 
tion to  this  annual  saving  this  exchange  would  involve  an 
expenditure  by  the  U.  G.  I.  Company  of  over  $400,000,  which 
would  become  the  property  of  the  city  in  twelve  years,  at  the 
end  of  the  gas  lease.  Just  what  influence  is  back  of  this  refusal 
to  take  advantage  of  this  offer  it  is  difficult  to  determine. 

It  has  appeared  to  me  from  the  start  that  the  Welsbach 
Street  Lighting  Company  of  America  is  operating  in  violation 
of  the  federal  laws  in  that  it  apparently  absolutely  controls 
every  gas  and  gasoline  street  light  in  this  country.  Competi- 
tion for  this  form  of  street  lighting  has  so  completely  disap- 
peared that  it  is  not  a proper  company,  it  seems  to  me,  with 
which  a great  city  like  Philadelphia  should  do  business.  The 
story  of  how  this  company  has  gradually  “absorbed”  every 
interest  that  opposed  it  is  in  many  respects  a painful  one.  My 
own  theory  is  that  the  Welsbach  Street  Lighting  Company  of 
America  in  building  its  country-wide  monopoly  has  simply 
acted  as  the  agent  for  the  great  gas  and  electric  interests  of  the 
country.  These  companies  discovered  that  the  gasoline  street 
lighting  business  was,  in  a way,  the  key  to  the  continuity  of 
control  of  all  the  gas  and  electric  properties  of  the  country. 
As  long  as  a city  could  buy  lamp  tops  and  gasoline,  it  was  in  a 
way  still  master  of  the  lighting  situation.  Even  this  safeguard 
is  gone.  The  gasoline  lighting  business  is  a relatively  small  one 
in  itself.  But  the  grasp  of  this  company  upon  the  situation  is 
so  complete  that  it  is  impossible  for  a prospective  competitor — 
even  if  such  competitor  happens  to  be  the  largest  city  in  the 
land — to  buy  for  use  on  the  street  the  equipment  necessary  to 
carry  on  any  gasoline  lighting,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  no  part 
of  the  simple  process  is  protected  by  patents  and  that  similar 


106 


equipment  is  purchased  for  use  on  farms  in  every  part  of  the 
civilized  world. 

I am  convinced  that  in  all  public  utility  work  the  feature  of 


Great  Oaks from  little 
Acorns  gjow. 

Water  Bureau  operation  and  maintewanance  expen- 


ses <$450,000  less  nt  1914  tlian.  "m  1911. Tke  recast- 
ing oAover  <oOOO  of  tkese  ^Lsketr  was  oni 


one  o. 


sma 

ska 


jj/^kundrecls  of 
ll  m.  ikemsel 


s of  economies  w 


ves  made 


wing. 


pos. 


kick  lltoigjw 
Ue  tkisgreak 


the  sliding  scale  of  rates  should  be  introduced.  The  fact  that 
for  a generation  the  private  gas  companies  in  England  have 
not  been  allowed  to  increase  their  dividends  except  as  they 


* The  illustration  on  this  page  was  suggested  by  J.  Wilmer  Hatfield,  machinist,  Bureau 
of  Water,  and  for  it  he  was  awarded  the  first  honorable  mention  in  Class  A. 


107 


reduced  the  selling  price  of  gas  probably  accounts  for  the  fact 
that  rates  throughout  that  country  are  usually  less  than  one- 
half  of  what  they  are  in  this  country.  For  power  purposes  the 
rates  are  as  low  as  16  cents.  Boston,  Massachusetts,  has  suc- 
cessfully introduced  this  sliding  scale  feature  into  its  schedule 
of  gas  rates.  It  seems  reasonably  clear  that  the  same  principle 
in  determining  charges  will  ultimately  be  used  for  electricity. 

Philadelphia  should  collect  its  own  garbage  and  probably 
own  its  own  garbage  plant.  Under  existing  conditions  we  would 
probably  be  in  a stronger  position  to  go  forward  with  this  in 
the  future  if  we  first  passed  a bill  which  would  permit  of  the 
making  of  five-year  contracts  on  this  work.  There  is  but  one 
company  now  in  the  field,  and  without  the  assistance  of  Councils 
they  have  this  city  by  the  throat.  We  have  been  fortunate 
enough  up  to  date  to  keep  them  in  check.  But  this  is  a game 
that  cannot  be  played  forever,  and  it  is  only  the  part  of  wisdom 
to  make  it  possible  for  the  city  to  make  long-term  contracts. 
This  will  enable  us  constantly  to  play  outside  competition 
against  the  single  plant  within  the  city  limits  and  thus  hold 
them  to  a fairly  reasonable  price.  Municipal  ownership  and 
municipal  operation  is  the  only  method  of  handling  this  problem 
which  will  be  permanently  • satisfactory. 

At  the  beginning  of  this  report  reference  was  made  to  the 
heavy  gross  savings  which  have  been  effected, . amounting  to 
over  $1,000,000  annually.  While  our  administration  has  been 
fortunate  in  making  some  very  large  and  spectacular  savings — 
such  as  the  cut  of  about  50  per  cent,  in  the  annual  garbage 
contract  just  referred  to,  amounting  to  approximately  $250,000 
a year — the  greater  part  of  our  reduction  comes  from  the 
practice  of  literally  numberless  small  economies.  Our  people 
are  rightly  requiring  more  and  more  from  government,  better 
schools,  more  amusements,  greater  safety  and  conveniences  of 
all  kinds.  If  we  are  to  meet  these  demands  we  will  have  to 
learn  how  to  do  what  we  are  doing  now  much  more  efficiently 
and  at  a largely  reduced  cost.  This  is  the  constructive  side  of 
practicing  wise  economies  that  it  provides  the  means  for 
advance  work. 


108 


In  conclusion  and  speaking  for  all  my  associates  in  the 
department,  I cannot  do  better  than  quote  Abraham  Lincoln: 

I do  the  very  best  I know  how — the  very  best  I can : and  I mean 
to  keep  doing  so  until  the  end.  If  the  end  brings  me  out  all  right, 
what  is  said  against  me  won’t  amount  to  anything.  If  the  end  brings 
me  out  wrong,  ten  angels  swearing  that  I was  right  would  make  no 
difference. 


Inscription  over  the  doorway  of  the  Convention  Hall. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS-URBANA 

...  ...  ......  ...  •■■null  III  I III  1 1 1| 


923 


774  J 


